The Cheerleader-Nerd Equation
by TerribleWaitress
Summary: "It's just that you haven't turned the page for like... nearly two hours." Leonard offers a clueless Penny some help with studying, and they learn that the lines between cheerleader and nerd aren't necessarily parallel - in fact, with some work, they can form a neatly balanced equation. (That was cheesy, this is AU, a prequel-sequel to 'The 8 Simple Rules Paradigm')
1. Library

**A/N - New story time! Obviously starting on a Monday, can't give that up! I'm going to aim for updating this once a week. Not sure how long it will be… but bear with me! It's AU. Set in the modern day, Leonard and Penny are teenagers - Penny 16, Leonard 17. Ah, reflecting back on those days! Since, in The 8 Simple Rules Paradigm, you guys settled on Nebraska, this'll be set in Nebraska. I'm not narrowing down to a specific high school or area, because I simply don't know enough about Nebraska and also I already painted a picture in my head of the location and I just don't want to disrupt that ;) Oh I should have mentioned. This is like… the background prequel and sequel to the events and stuff in The 8 Simple Rules Paradigm. I started writing it when I finished it just as a way to have it down and know in my mind how things happened and stuff. So, now it's here :) Anyway, enough from me. Hope you enjoy this story, you all know I love hearing from you :) **

* * *

Tentatively, Leonard cleared his throat as he approached the table at which the blonde girl who had been sat for an hour and forty-eight minutes without so much as turning the page of her textbook was staring into space. His heart began to race as he opened his mouth to speak, wondering why he had even thought to come over in the first place when just the idea of speaking to her was nerve-wracking. "Umm… hey. Hi. Can I help you?"

Looking up from the page she had been staring at for what felt like an eternity, Penny found herself looking at a slightly scared looking bespectacled boy with a neat mass of brown curly hair who, if she remembered rightly from the School Awards Ceremony a couple of weeks ago, was in the year above her and incredibly smart. Blinking a few times to try focus herself, she gave him a confused smile as he fidgeted with the sleeves of his jacket, but didn't say anything.

"It's just that you haven't turned the page for like... nearly two hours." Leonard said in response to her acknowledgement of his presence.

"Oh." Penny finally came to her senses, and cleared her throat slightly. Glancing at her empty exercise book and untouched textbook, she felt herself blush slightly. "Yeah."

"Okay." He nodded awkwardly at her, before sighing as though to tell himself to just get his words out. "Did, umm, did you need any... any help?" This was terrifying, absolutely terrifying. Worse than having to play a cello solo in front of the entire orchestra.

Looking quickly again to the textbook and her empty notes, she furrowed her brow and bit her lip apologetically as she looked back up at him. "Uh, really? Would you mind?"

"Sure, not at all." He looked nervously at the chair next to her. "Can I sit here?"

"Of course." Penny smiled at him, and she found herself smoothing down her sweater slightly as he sat himself down next to her.

"Thank you. I'm Leonard by the way." He held his hand out to her.

"I'm Penny," she replied, shaking his hand. Suddenly her eyes grew wide and her face burst into a grin. "Hey, I _do _know you! You won those awards and things at the School Awards Ceremony... Leonard Hofstadter!"

"Yeah, that's me." Leonard shrugged and gave her a shy smile, not used to being recognized by anyone other than his few immediate friends. "I didn't know people actually paid attention at those."

"Well, I had to, I was collecting the Cheerleading award with the squad." Penny beamed proudly at him.

He suddenly looked mortified, as though the fact that he had just found out he was talking to and sat next to a cheerleader was an absolute unthinkable event. "Oh! Right. Yeah, Penny, I remember you now. You look really different when you're not in your Cheerleading uniform. Sorry."

"Of course I look different. I don't walk around in it with my hair scraped up all the time, do I? And why'd you say sorry for?"

"I dunno." Leonard began fidgeting with his sleeves again, averting his gaze. "I've just never spoken to a Cheerleader before."

"And I've never spoken to a…" she paused, trying to think of a better word to use than 'nerd', "…someone who won an 'academic' award before, so, what's your point?" Penny raised a brow at him, frowning.

"I'm not sure. I don't know. I'm sorry." Leonard shook his head, wishing he was better at having conversations with people, deciding to quickly change the subject. "Umm, so, you're a cheerleader… is that… is that fun?"

"Yeah, it is fun." Penny nodded enthusiastically. "Well, until you get yelled at for like two weeks because you still can't do the splits. I can't help it, I'm just too scared to go all the way down!"

"Oh, that's too bad. I'm sure you'll get there." Leonard offered with a tiny shrug.

"Maybe. I didn't make the team last year because I 'wasn't flexible enough'. What kind of crap is that?" Penny rolled her eyes, scoffing.

Leonard wanted to tell her that that was probably a fair point; from what he'd seen of the cheerleading routines, flexibility was a fairly important part of it - but decided against it. "At least you made it onto the team this year."

"Yeah, I suppose." Penny dropped her hands onto the table in front of her. "Anyway, now my Dad's getting mad at me because my grades _suck _and I don't even know where I'm supposed to start. There's so much stuff in here!" She jabbed at the textbook accusingly.

"Well," Leonard looked at the textbook, pulling it towards him, "what, in Math, do you struggle with the most?"

"_Everything_." Penny grumbled.

"Oh. Then, I guess, we can start at the beginning of this text book, and the easy bits - we can skip over those, and focus on the bits you really don't get." He flipped to the contents page of the book she'd been staring at.

"So, we'll be doing the whole book then. _Great_," she sighed, looking uncertainly at the contents page.

"We don't have to do all of it if you don't want, I mean, that's a lot of time with me, it was just a suggestion-"

"Oh, no, no," Penny sat up suddenly, her brows raised in worry. "No, I didn't mean... I just meant, _great_, that's a lot of studying to do, and I'm not good at studying, and I probably should have paid attention in math class. That wasn't about you. I'm sorry." She gave him a reassuring smile. "Okay, lets start at the beginning then."

"Are you sure? Because we don't have to if you don't want to."

"I do, I do want to, it's a good idea. It's just a lot of studying. But I guess if I have you to help me then it won't be as bad as it was trying to do it by myself." Penny smiled at him. "It'll be nice having you here with me."

"Okay." Leonard nodded. Well, at least it wasn't spending time with him that she was complaining about. However, he had no idea how to take her compliments… were they compliments?

"Right…" Penny looked at the textbook, and then back at Leonard, picking up her pencil. "Chapter one, then. Lets go."

* * *

"Umm, is it… is it too much to ask if you could help me study tomorrow as well?" Penny bit her lip as they exited the library, her books tucked under her left arm, looking up at Leonard apologetically. She didn't want to impose on him, or subject him to trying to teach her, or force her inability to study alone upon him - but he had been incredibly helpful, and very kind about the things she struggled with and got frustrated at herself for. And if she was honest, she just really enjoyed his company.

"Oh, yeah, sure, I'd be happy to." Leonard nodded, trying not to feel excited that somebody was actually suggesting that they wanted to spend some more time with him - a _girl _wanted to spend time with him, a _popular _girl - even if it was just for studying, she did seem to be a genuinely nice person.

"Oh my God, thank you." Penny breathed a sigh of relief, before scrunching her face up nervously. "And, uh, Wednesday too?"

"Okay," he replied quietly.

"And... okay, it's just, I have a test next week and I want to at least not fail it this time, so-"

"Thursday and Friday too?" Leonard finished for her, an amused smile beginning to form on his lips.

"Is that too much to ask from you? I... if you have other plans then that's okay, I won't interrupt, you can get on with your life-"

"Oh, come on, do I look like the kind of person who has other plans?" Leonard chuckled slightly, before realizing how sad that made him sound. "It's fine, I'll help you."

"You seriously have no other plans this week?" Penny pulled a face at him.

"Other than studying, playing video games and stuff on the weekend with my friends... no, not really." Leonard shook his head.

"So... what do you do for fun?"

"I just told you - video games and stuff." He said this as though it were obvious.

"Oh, alright. I've never played a video game before. But... if you're sure you're okay with helping me study all week? Really sure?"

"Absolutely! It's more exciting than studying alone, anyway."

"Aw, okay, well, thank you, so, _so _much." Penny smiled sweetly at him as they left through the main gates. "I'll go over the stuff you showed me tonight, and have a look over the next chapter of the book for tomorrow."

"Wow, alright, that's more enthusiasm than I thought you'd have for this. But that sounds good."

"Well, if I'm studying, I might as well be all in, mightn't I?" Penny shrugged. "I'll meet you in the library after school?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Oh, here," Penny pulled her phone out from her pocket, unlocking it. "We should swap numbers in case one of us is late, or the library's too full, or something."

"R-really?" Leonard stuttered. She wanted his _number? _"Alright. Sure." He pulled his phone from his pocket and unlocked it before handing it over to her.

They typed their numbers into each others phones, and Leonard had to remind himself that this was just exchanging numbers for academic purposes - nothing more, it was just a practical move. Penny bit her lip as she slowly entered her number, wondering why she felt this nervous over simply giving Leonard her phone number. Was this what people meant when they used the phrase 'butterflies in my stomach' - and why was she getting them _now_? Her friends would probably laugh at her for this if she told them - firstly for feeling nervous about something so little as giving a guy her number, and secondly, because it was Leonard and he was... well, a nerd. A sweet, kind, and cute nerd.

"Here," Penny handed his phone back, releasing a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

"Thanks. Here." Taking his phone, he passed back hers.

"So, same place and time tomorrow, yeah?" Penny confirmed again.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Alright. Good. Again, thank you so much. What way are you going from here?"

"Home."

"No, I meant, which way is home for you?" Penny giggled. "Are you going left or right from here?"

"Oh! Left."

"Me too!" Penny grinned excitedly, and they began walking again, Leonard resuming fidgeting with his sleeves. "So how far is your house?"

"Not too far, I'm only up the top of this road and then left down the hill and a short walk from there."

"Oh, that's not too bad then."

"What about you?"

"I'm right up the top of the hill. Then you know the funny roads from there? Up one of those. It seems like a long walk but it's actually not so bad when you're used to it."

"You live in one of those big houses?" Leonard asked, remembering the area from when he and his friends had done a massive scavenger hunt a couple of weeks ago.

"Uh-huh. Got a big garden too, with some chickens right out back. The farms only ten minutes walk up the road, which is awesome. I like going up to the farm, sometimes I go ride the horses but not so much these days." Penny explained, though she was much more interested in Leonard's house. "What's your house like? Is it one of the proper housey-houses? Like, on a normal street? With a neat fence?"

"Yeah. It's like all of them in that area. Semi-detached, little front garden and drive, back garden... we don't have chickens though."

"That would be funny keeping chickens round there." Penny giggled.

"My mom wouldn't like having chickens. She doesn't even let me go to the farm, she says it's too mucky." Leonard frowned, and they approached the top of the road, slowing their pace down.

"Oh, that's sad. You'll have to come over and I'll take you one day, I think you'd like the animals. I'll show you my favourite horse too. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, okay." Leonard smiled, trying not to focus on her possible invitation to hang out one day, out of school and not for studying.

"Great. It was really nice to meet you, Leonard."

"You too, Penny."

Leaning up slightly on her tiptoes, Penny wrapped one arm around Leonard to give him a hug. Not used to this display of affection, he stiffly placed one arm around her. Again, Penny felt those butterflies in her stomach (she was now sure it was butterflies, rather than just a stomach bug - though she wasn't sure she'd have an explanation for either), and a slight blush arose in her cheeks before she pulled away.

"Okay, I'll see you after school tomorrow. Have a nice walk home. I'll study the next chapter tonight."

"You too, hope you're home before it's too dark."

"I hope so too." Penny nodded. "Bye, Leonard."

"Bye, Penny."

Somewhat reluctantly, both of them turned to go their separate ways.


	2. Frozen Yoghurt

"Hey." Penny dumped her bag onto the table. "Sorry I'm late. I forgot to text you."

"Hey. That's fine. Are you okay?" Leonard raised his eyebrows slightly with concern as he took in Penny's angered face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Penny pulled her textbook out of her bag in a manner that suggested otherwise, slamming it onto the table, followed by her exercise book and pencil case.

"You sure?" Leonard asked warily.

"Yeah, I said I'm fine!" Penny snapped, before running a hand through her hair. "Ugh, I'm so sorry, I'm not mad at you. I'm not even mad. Actually, I am kind of mad. No, yes, I _am_ mad."

"What happened? Uh, that is, if you don't mind me asking. You don't have to tell me if you don't want me to know about stuff."

"It's really stupid. Just because I said I can't hang out at stupid Valerie's _stupid _house tonight, suddenly everyone's all like, 'oh, Penny, what's wrong with you, don't be like that, all the guys are going to be there, remember that guy you made out with?' I mean that wasn't even making out and he's disgusting. And then just because _they're _all happy to go dropping their panties, they start to tease _me _just because-" Clenching her fists, Penny closed her eyes, letting out a deep breath.

Leonard patted her back awkwardly. "It's okay." He had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. "Do you want a juice box?"

"What?" Penny opened her eyes and peered at him curiously.

"A juice box. Umm, my friend told me that apparently you're supposed to offer people who are upset a cup of tea but... I only have a juice box."

"Oh. Alright." Penny shrugged, letting herself cool off a little as Leonard pulled out an orange juice box from his backpack.

"Here." He held it out to her.

"Thank you." She pierced the straw in and took a sip. "Mm. This is good. Strangely it does help, thank you, Leonard." She gave him a small smile before taking another sip. "Oh my God, were you saving this juice box for later? I don't want to drink this all if you were going to have it later."

"No, that's fine, I have my water bottle with me. I just didn't have my juice box during lunch, you can have it."

"Oh, okay. That's really sweet of you to give it to me." Penny grinned, before frowning at him apologetically. "I'm sorry I dumped all that crap at you. We've only known each other like two days. Day three and I'm yelling at you, I'm so sorry."

"That's okay." Leonard shrugged sheepishly.

"You can tell me to shut up if I'm going on about my stupid problems too much, I don't mind. Anyway, I went over the stuff we did over the last couple of days. I think I finally got it, hold on, I'll show you." Penny held up a finger as she took her exercise book and flipped it open to the back, where she'd been working with Leonard. "I did those questions from the text book. Did I get them right? Like, I checked the answers in the back but is the working out right?"

Leonard was impressed. He hadn't expected her to go over the work they had done, let alone do questions from the textbook in her spare time. He was slightly speechless for a moment, before he pulled her book towards him to go over her work. To his surprise, it was all mostly correct, save for a few mistakes that she had fixed after multiple attempts he could see furiously crossed out. "Yeah, that all looks fine."

"Oh, yay!" Penny grinned, taking another sip from the juice box. "I _told _my dad I'd get them right. I was doing these in the kitchen. You know when I told him a guy was helping me study, he didn't believe it was help with actually studying? Ha, proved him wrong!"

"What did he think I was helping you do?" Leonard asked naively.

"Oh please, have you not _seen _all the girls in our school? You mention to your parents you're hanging out with a guy and they assume the worst. I mean, I don't blame Daddy, look at how my sister was when she was my age! But she's real protective of me, like, until she moved out, if a guy drove me home she would meet me at the bottom of the road to make sure nothing happened. Bridget's alright now though, I think, now she's not at school and she got a job. So, I guess he just thinks I'll end up the same-" Suddenly, Penny stopped, and sighed. "See, I'm doing it again. I just talk. Sorry."

"I don't mind."

"Seriously, you can just tell me to shut up when I do that. Anyway, I looked at the objectives for this part of the book, so... fire away, Leonard."

* * *

"Are you doing anything tonight?" Penny asked, checking the time on her phone. She tried to ignore how hard and fast her heart was beating against her chest, and the fact that her palms were sweating - just that one invitation to go hang out together and _not _talk about studying, and just spend some time with each other was both exciting and insanely nerve wracking.

"Uh, no." Leonard shook his head slightly, hitching his backpack up.

"I'm going to get a frozen yoghurt up the road, you wanna come with?"

Leonard stuttered for a moment. "You, umm, want me to go with you to get a frozen yoghurt?"

Penny raised a brow, keeping up her pretense of this being casual. "Yeah."

"Like, people would see us in public?"

"Yeah..."

"Umm, alright."

"I don't know if I want Chocolate Surprise or Green Blend." Penny contemplated as they began walking up the road, the opposite way to which they'd usually go home. "I mean, I really should have Green because it's healthier and I've really got to watch what I'm eating now I'm a cheerleader. But Chocolate... mm, it's really tasty. You get chocolate sprinkles and chocolate chips on top as well with white chocolate sauce. What're you gonna get?"

"Oh, I don't know. I've never been. I'm, umm, I'm lactose intolerant." Leonard told her, embarrassed.

"They have a dairy free option!" Penny said enthusiastically.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Ooh, this is _so _exciting."

He wasn't sure what part of purchasing dairy free frozen yoghurt classified as 'exciting', but he smiled at her anyway. "It sure is."

"You know what, I think I'll get chocolate, to celebrate studying and the fact that this is your first time here." Penny decided, as they approached the store in question. She opened to door for him and followed him inside. Instantly, she pointed to the board behind the counter. "See, told you, dairy free."

"Oh yeah." Leonard smiled, as he followed her over to the counter.

"Hey. I would like a... oh, what the hell. I'll have a large Chocolate Surprise frozen yoghurt, please. And Leonard will have a dairy free... oh," she turned to Leonard. "What do you want?"

"Uh..." Leonard peered at the board quickly. "I'll have the dairy free chocolate granola. Small, please."

"Granola?" Penny raised a brow at him. "Healthy choice. Well, I'll let you off, it's your first one. Still really tasty though." As the server put in their order and gave them the total sum, Penny began to search through her purse.

"Oh, no, it's okay, I'll get it." Leonard said hastily, pulling out a bill from his pocket and handing it over.

"You sure?" Penny asked. "Here, I'll pay you back for my one, at least."

"No, it's okay." Leonard shrugged.

Penny was kind of relieved; she only had a little of her allowance left, and whether or not she continued to receive it depended on how she did on her math test next week. Though she would have happily paid for both had he not offered; she hadn't been expecting him to at all. Sure, guys had paid for her drinks before, but never... _normal _stuff, like frozen yoghurt.

Accepting their now prepared tubs of frozen yoghurt, they thanked the server and sat down in one of the small booths.

"So, you ready for your first try of this awesome frozen yoghurt?" Penny grinned.

"I guess so." What if he didn't like it? He was sure he would. It seemed to be a popular choice of dessert-style food amongst the people he knew. He took a small scoop of it onto his blue plastic spoon and put it into his mouth. It was cold, but tasty. "Huh. It's actually really nice."

"See! I told you." Penny began to dig into hers. "Ooh, does dairy free taste different to the normal ones?"

"Uh, I dunno." Leonard shrugged.

"Oh, _duh_, of course, you haven't tried to ones with dairy. Silly me!" Penny giggled nervously, wishing she'd thought of this logical answer before asking such a stupid question. It wasn't as though he hadn't told her he hadn't had it before. Putting her spoon down, she looked over at him. "Can I try some of yours? Then I can judge if it tastes any different."

He blinked at her for a moment. Nobody had ever wanted to share his food. Especially not a girl. Definitely not a pretty girl like Penny. "O-okay."

Grabbing his spoon, Penny took a generous serving of his frozen yoghurt. He watched as she placed the spoon in her mouth, slowly taking the food into her mouth, before removing the spoon and placing it back in his tub. She tilted her head in thought for a moment, and he tried not to think about how this was the first time he'd shared cutlery - even if it was plastic - with somebody else.

"Tastes the same, the dairy and the non-dairy. I always expected non-dairy to be... kinda gross." Penny admitted. "Like, you know how things taste different when they don't have something and it's never as good? Ugh, I bet it has less fat as well." Penny scoffed, stabbing her spoon into her frozen yoghurt. "Maybe I should switch to dairy-free."

"I'm sure it's the same. You don't need to have it just because it has less fat, you look great." His eyes widened as his face turned red. "I mean, you know... you just don't need to switch over to dairy-free just because it has less fat or whatever."

Penny felt herself blush at the compliment he tried to hide nervously. "Aw. Thank you."

"It's okay." Leonard shifted his feet awkwardly beneath the table. "Besides, I'm sure with all the cheerleading practice, you'd burn off more calories than you're consuming right now."

"Ooh, that's a good point." Penny grinned. "But still, I think I'll switch to dairy free from now on anyway. Then we can be dairy free frozen yoghurt buddies!"

He found it adorable how excited she would get over the smallest things. "Yeah, okay."

They continued with their frozen yoghurts for a while, before Penny looked up at him to make sure that he was still enjoying himself - and it seemed he was, because he had almost finished. "So, did you like it? The frozen yoghurt?"

"Uh-huh," he looked up at her and nodded with a smile on his face, before looking over at her practically empty tub and letting out a small chuckle, "and I'm guessing you enjoyed yours?"

"I did." She bit her lip as she put her spoon down in the tub and pushed it to the side. "I don't come here _that _often, but I felt it was a deserved frozen yoghurt, right?"

"Yeah, it was." Leonard agreed, copying her movements once he'd finished his frozen yoghurt. He was still in total disbelief that he was actually hanging out in public with Penny - a girl, a cheerleader, not a nerd, and very pretty. Attributes most of the people he was seen with in public did not have. It was a pleasant change. "You've worked really hard these past few days, you deserved that frozen yoghurt."

"_Thank _you!" Penny breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought I was just making excuses to myself for treating myself. And hey, you deserved it too, trying to teach me math has got to be _really _tough."

"It's not as difficult as you think it is. You actually pick things up pretty quickly."

"Ugh, see, my brother always laughed at me saying I was 'slow' - but, then again, anything he ever says is most likely total crap." Penny rolled her eyes. "Anyway, shall we start heading back?"

"Yeah, sure."

They got up, taking their empty tubs to the bin before stepping outside and heading back towards the school to go home. For a while she watched her feet as they walked, unable to help the slight smile on her face that was brought on by simply being around Leonard. She looked up at him quickly and caught him with a similar, barely there but visible smile on his face too.

"So, what're your plans for tonight?"

"I'm going to read my new comic book when I get home."

"Oh yeah, you said yesterday you were going to the comic book store." Penny felt proud of herself for remembering this detail.

"Yeah. And then I've got some studying to do for tomorrows Physics quiz and finish off my project." Leonard frowned - none of that sounded like fun at all; he could just imagine how lame it must all sound to her. "What about you?"

"I've got to do this homework for tomorrow. It's for English, so that's not too bad - I like English. Ooh, and then I'll watch TV... I should probably stretch too for cheerleading. I'll have a look at the next couple of chapters for tomorrow before I go to bed."

She actually studied and worked more than he had expected, Leonard thought to himself as she told him about her favorite TV show and how funny it was, and her favorite lines from it. He knew some of her friends, most of them also cheerleaders, would make up excuses as to why they hadn't done their homework and then sit through classes talking and giggling at the back. Perhaps Penny wasn't the most attentive person in her classes but she knew enough to get her work done, and he thought if she really put her mind to it she would do really well. He knew not _all _cheerleaders fit into the 'stereotype' he had in his mind - sure, many of them had rolled their eyes and scoffed at him rudely when he'd offered to help them in class or asked them kindly to be quiet so he could concentrate on the lesson, but Penny was probably the first one to actually properly talk to him, and form a friendship with him (possibly - he wasn't really sure if this counted as being friends or not yet). There had been one or two other cheerleaders who he'd spoken to, who'd asked him for help with the work or ended up next to him in a lab and had normal conversations with him, so he knew they weren't _all _the same. He'd just categorised them as 'pretty, but wouldn't be my friend' - though now he'd probably need a new category for Penny.

"I'm sorry," Penny briefly placing her hand on his arm brought him out of his thoughts, "you probably didn't want to know all about the show, but... like I said, feel free to just tell me to shut up."

"It's okay." Leonard chuckled. At least she was just as passionate about her favorite show as he was with his.

"Oh, by the way, I have cheer practice tomorrow. So... I'm gonna be an hour later than usual. Is that okay? If you can't wait around or whatever that's fine."

"No, no, that's fine with me. I'll do my homework in the library, then I won't have to do it later at home. It works out pretty well."

"Okay." Penny grinned with relief. "Good. Thank you. I just forgot about practice, I guess I'm in a really... studious mindset, or whatever."

"A studious mindset." He laughed. "Well, that's a good mindset to be in, I suppose, considering you're studying math with me all week."

"It is." Penny nodded. "Though my parents would seriously laugh if I told them that."

"How come?" Leonard raised a brow at her. She'd often drop mentions of her family, and it always made him curious to know more.

"Well, you know, I'm not the _best _student in the world, unless it's something like English, or Drama, or sometimes History because it's interesting, I don't really do much work." Penny shrugged half-heartedly. "It's just studious isn't a word you'd associate with me. Or any of my family, really."

"You can be the first one in your family who counts as 'studious' then - even if it's only for a week." Leonard offered.

"Yeah, I suppose that's true. Hopefully more than a week though." Penny smiled a little, hoping that he'd catch her little hint. "Hey, check me out, I'm studious! You're probably the only one who'll _ever _say that though."

He smiled kindly at her. "I'm sure once they see how well you're doing, and when you pass your math test on Monday with an good grade, they'll use that word."

"Maybe. I hope so. I bet your parents always say you're studious. You do a lot of studying."

"Not really." Leonard's mouth twisted into an uncomfortable frown.

Noticing this, Penny bit her lip. "Am I allowed to ask why?" She asked timidly.

"It's nothing, really. My parents are _incredibly_... career-orientated, so 'studious' is not a word that is used lightly in my house." Leonard tried to phrase it in the easiest, kindest way possible.

"Oh."

"They have doctorates and are very focused on their work, it's very important to them. My mother has high expectations of us, so... yeah." He trailed off.

"Us... you have siblings, then?"

"Yeah. They're both older than me. My brothers in grad school and my sister just started college this year."

"So they're older, and don't live at home, like mine? There, we have something in common. It's quiet when it's just you and your parents, isn't it?"

"It is, yeah." Leonard nodded. Considering he hardly spoke to his parents, it was _more _than quiet nowadays in his home.

"Oh well. I haven't seen my sister in _so _long. She always used to tease me, and make fun of me, but then never let me do anything anyway. Older siblings are weird, right?" Penny giggled.

"Yeah." This, Leonard could agree with and contribute to. "That's like my brother. He was cooler than me but still really smart. He had _loads _of girlfriends. Not that mom or dad know. But anyway. He'd always make fun of me but then if he ever saw me with a girl he'd start questioning everything."

"I get that." Penny sighed. "Don't have a boyfriend, I'm a loser. A boy drives me home from a party, I'm hoping she doesn't tear my hair out or shoot the guy or something ridiculous."

"Exactly! One day he's making fun of me for not having a girlfriend or going to boy-girl parties, the next day he's acting as though I have fifty of them. And I'm like, have you seen me? Obviously everyone wants some of this nerd action - all day, every day." He blushed slightly at his confession, though most of him was busy wondering how it had just become so _easy _to talk to Penny.

Penny giggled. "That's a funny way to put it. But I totally get what you mean. It's so annoying!" She frowned suddenly when she realized they had reached the top of the road where they would turn their separate ways. "Oh." She slowly stopped.

"Well, this was a really cool afternoon." Leonard said after a while, wondering if she felt the same disappointment as he did at reaching this spot.

"It was." Penny nodded with a smile. "Thank you for the frozen yoghurt."

"Oh, that's okay. Thanks for taking me there. It was really nice."

"I'm glad you think so." She shifted her feet slightly. "I'll see you tomorrow, yeah? And I'll text you once I'm done with cheer practice so you know I'm on my way."

"Yeah. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

Like they had done for the past two days, Penny tiptoed up a little to hug him, and he put an arm around her to reciprocate the hug. He still couldn't work out what these hugs meant, and she still couldn't quite place the butterflies in her stomach or the slight blush that would form across her cheeks. They smiled at each other when they pulled away and said goodbye, slowly beginning the rest of their walk home.

Penny sped up after a while; she knew if she wanted to fit all her studying in and still have time to watch TV she'd need to be home as soon as she could - though she absolutely didn't regret taking the extra time to get frozen yoghurt with Leonard. She smiled to herself, spending the rest of her walk home going over the work they had done that afternoon in her mind.

Arriving home, she headed straight for the kitchen as usual to get a glass of water, dropping her bag onto the counter and placing her phone down next to it before heading to the cupboards to get a glass.

"Oh, sweetheart, you're home." Meryl smiled, stepping into the kitchen and leaning against the island counter.

"Sorry mom, we went for a frozen yoghurt after studying." Penny threw over her shoulder as she filled her glass up and took a sip.

"We?"

"Yeah, me and Leonard." Penny said simply, before feeling that blush on her cheeks again.

"Ah, you and _Leonard_, huh?" Meryl smirked, raising her brows and Penny as she folder her arms over her stomach.

Rolling her eyes, Penny moved to snatch up her bag and phone as she left the kitchen. "Shut up, mom."

"I didn't say anything!" Meryl called out to the hallway.

"Yeah but you thought it!" Penny called back, continuing walking to her bedroom without turning her head so her mom wouldn't see the increased blush on her face.


	3. Dates

"I don't get it!" Penny groaned, throwing her head back angrily, slamming her pencil down on the table in front of her.

"It's okay, it's not an easy topic." Leonard assured her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she sat back up.

"Then how come you got it so easily? Why do I suck so bad at math?" Penny moaned, tilting her head to her shoulder so it rested on Leonard's hand. "Leonard he-elp."

"Well, where you're getting stuck on each of the questions is the final part of the working out, where you're finding the final answer - or trying to." He tried to ignore her head on his hand; something she had taken to doing quite frequently. He wondered if she realised she was doing it, and if it even did anything to comfort her. "There's a lot going on there, so maybe we practice a few of those together. I'll work through them with you, okay?"

"Okay." Penny sat up properly, picking up her pencil again. "We've been here for like three hours. Three hours on a Friday in the library! I'm gonna cry if I don't pass this math test."

"You will pass it!" Leonard frowned suddenly. "Has my teaching not been good enough?"

"No, it has, it's been amazing." Penny turned to look at him. "You're the best. It's just... I'm scared I'll forget everything, or I'll get stuck without you there to help me."

"You'll be fine, trust me. Pass me your book, I'll write some stuff out and we'll work through it together, then you can try another few of these by yourself - I'm sure you'll get it. Trust me, it won't take too long."

Penny's mouth twisted nervously. "After that can we do a quick re-cap of the stuff we did this week? Or... you know, if you have to go, that's okay, you can get on with your Friday night, I'll go over it myself."

"It's fine, we can do a re-cap." Leonard smiled at her. He liked spending time with her, of course he wasn't going to decline her request.

"Are you sure? I don't want to keep you here if you have better things to be doing."

"No, seriously, it's okay. I'm not doing anything tonight anyway, except for trying to beat my friends at the online game. It's fine."

"Alright. If you're sure? I'm just really worried I'll have forgotten everything I learned earlier in the week, and I just want to have it fresh in my mind so I can go over it during the weekend since all my plans fell through anyway."

"Oh, that's too bad - but at least you have more time to study and relax a little, it's been a long week. I'm sure you won't have forgotten anything."

"Yeah, that's true. Hopefully. Thank you." Penny lifted her head, sitting up to concentrate. "Okay, let's do this thing. Celebrate Friday in studious style." Her eyes suddenly lit up as she turned to look at him with a mischievous grin on her face. "Hey, can I borrow your glasses quickly?"

"Umm..." Leonard cautiously took his glasses off and handed them her, furrowing his brow and squinting slightly to watch her. "Okay. Why? Can you not see?"

"Of course I can see, silly," Penny giggled, putting his glasses on. "Do I look more studious this way?"

As she looked at him, grinning with her tongue between her teeth, Leonard felt his cheeks flush. She looked hot. _And studious, _he reminded himself, _because you're studying in the library. _"Uh... yeah. Yeah, you look studious."

"Hmm." Penny pulled her phone out, switching on the camera and changing it to the front-facing camera so she could see herself on the screen. "Huh, I do look quite studious in these glasses, don't I." Pouting her lips together, she snapped a picture of herself before putting her phone down and taking his glasses off. "They're making my head hurt, I don't think I need glasses that strong. Can you see anything without your glasses?"

"Uh, yeah," Leonard snapped his focus off her face and down to his glasses, which he looked at for a moment before putting them back on. "I can see without them, things are just... really blurry. Why did you take a picture of yourself?"

"I just wanted to see what I looked like in the glasses, and I couldn't really see through them so I took a picture. Plus I want to show my parents, that I _can _be studious. It's my new favorite word."

"Alright... I'm not sure a picture of you wearing glasses is really going to show them you're _studious_, but okay."

Her brow furrowed. "You're right. Here," she picked up her phone and held it out to him. "Take a picture of me studying! Ooh, hold on."

Taking her phone, he watched her pull the books towards her as she poised her pen over exercise book. "Umm, alright." She nodded at him to take the picture, and he leaned back so he could get her and the books into the shot. It felt weird doing this, but he wasn't really going to say no. When he'd taken it, he sat back properly and handed her phone back as she grinned at him. "Here."

"Hey, you know what else we should do?" Penny gasped, her eyes lighting up as she switched back to the front facing camera again, holding her arm out. "Here, get in the picture with me. This can be like... a commemorative photo of a weeklong of studying. I think that's my word of the day, commemorative, I used it in my English class today."

Not really sure what else to do, or why he was doing it in the first place, Leonard nodded. "Okay."

Moving his face closer to hers, Penny gently bit on the inside of her lip. She saw a smile naturally spread across her face on the screen of her phone as Leonard appeared in the shot. As his cheek gently touched against hers the butterflies in her stomach seemed to multiply, forming a tight knot in her stomach but spreading through her body at the same time. Leonard felt his heart race increase rapidly and he felt her skin against his, and he tried not to think about how close they were right now. That was a good thing, he thought, that she didn't mind their closeness, and that she wanted a photo of the both of them on her phone. Maybe it was just to prove that she had been studying, but still, his face was going to be right there, next to hers, on her phone.

Natural smiles filling both their faces, Penny quickly clicked the button and the photo was taken. Lowering her phone, she gulped as he moved away from her back to his original position, and she grinned as she showed him the picture. "I like it, it's cute." Swiping to look at the one he'd taken before, she giggled. "See, I do look studious!"

"You do," he agreed with a smile. "I think the other picture is cute too." _That was scary to say out loud._

"I'm glad you think so too." Penny smiled at him for a moment, tilting her head,before turning back to her books and putting her phone back in her pocket. "Alright, lets get back to _actually _studying now. Take it away, Hofstadter!"

* * *

"And you're _sure_ it's okay for me to call you if I get stuck over the weekend?" Penny asked for the fifth time as they reached the part of the street they parted ways.

"Uh, yeah." Leonard nodded, shuffling his feet.

"You don't seem so sure." Penny observed. Her heart fell a little; what if he just didn't want her to call, what if he was bored of her? Suddenly she wondered when she had become somebody who cared what another person thought of her. She sighed. "It's okay if you don't want me to. I've probably annoyed you enough this week already."

"No, no it's okay. I don't mind. Of course you can call." Leonard replied nervously, looking up at her again. _Just do it now_, he told himself, furrowing his brow and clenching his jaw for a moment, before forcing a more relaxed expression onto his face. "Penny, will you... go out on a date with me?" _Okay, the ground can swallow me up now. _He felt himself flush red. Perhaps he shouldn't have done it just then. It was so random, and out of the blue, and off-topic. _At least when she says no I can remember not to ask girls out in the middle of a different conversation._

Blinking a few times, Penny felt a smile form across her face after the initial shock of his question. "I... yeah, okay. Yes." Her heart fluttered slightly as the butterflies resurfaced and the blush on her face couldn't be excused by the slightly cold wind. "Yes."

"Yes?" _Did she just say... yes?_

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Oh. Okay." Leonard tried to pretend his heart wasn't racing and that he didn't need his inhaler. "Great. Cool. I'll... I'll call you, or something." His mind was still trying to process that he'd actually managed to ask Penny out, and that she had actually said yes. Every time he had pictured this moment in his head, she had laughed at him and then gossiped about it with her friends. If he was honest, he didn't really have any idea what he was supposed to do now.

"Sure." Penny grinned. "I'll speak to you soon, then."

"Alright." He hoped this counted as 'playing it cool'. "Have fun studying. Speak to you soon, Penny."

"Thanks!" Penny giggled nervously, giving him a quick hug. "Bye, Leonard."

She walked twice as fast as she normally did on the final part of her journey home, a grin on her face. Sure, she'd been out with guys before. Popular guys, and older ones too. But none of them had ever actually asked her out - it had just sort of... happened.

The thought of telling her friends made her stomach drop a little. She knew they would probably make fun of her for going on a date with a 'nerd'. But they didn't know how sweet, kind and caring he was. Leonard had put up with her this whole week, without so much as a joke about her being 'such a blonde' or comments such as 'who cares about grades with a body like that'. He never once used the phrase 'loosen up' or 'you should be more like your sister' which was a big relief. There was a point before commenting on her looks were no longer a compliment and being compared to her sister became more than just a joke. And he was funny, too, and of course very smart, which she really loved. Maybe her friends would understand - she hoped they would. But there was no guarantee of that; after all, they did spend a lot of time gossiping and bitching about each others boyfriends, so why would that make her an exclusion to this?

By the time she was walking up the drive, she had decided she didn't really care if her friends didn't understand why she found Leonard so... attractive. Was that the right word? Did it apply to more than just physical attributes? Though, the physical attributes counted too. Well, she couldn't exactly go and ask Leonard now.

Unlocking the front door and dropping her keys onto the small table, she walked through to the kitchen as usual.

"Hey sweetheart," Meryl gave her daughter a quick hug in greeting before returning to the stove.

"Hey mom." Penny sat herself on one of the kitchen stools, her bag in front of her.

"How was school? You get your studying done?"

"Yeah, it was great. I got a lot done at the library but I had no idea what was going on in my Chemistry class. That's crazy to another level."

"Maybe you need help with those classes too. It's quite late, were you studying this whole time?"

"Yeah."

"Really?" Meryl turned and raised a brow in disbelief. "This whole time after school, you were studying?"

"_Yes_!" Penny rolled her eyes, pulling out her exercise book for math and flicking through the pages from her study session with Leonard. "See? That was all today."

"My God, that's a lot of work. You sure it's all yours?"

"_Yes, _mom, that's my handwriting. That's Leonard's handwriting, actually, when he was helping me work through the stuff I didn't get. And his corrections. That's just a little doodle because I was getting angry at myself and he thought it would make me laugh."

"Well isn't that sweet of him."

"Yeah." Penny watched as her mother added a selection of vegetables to the pan, chewing nervously on her lip. "Mom?"

"Sweetheart?"

"Leonard asked me out on a date."

"Ah," Meryl turned once again to look at Penny with a wide grin on her face.

Penny furrowed her brow. "What's that look for?"

"Nothing, nothing." Meryl shrugged slightly. "I'm just happy for you."

"What do you mean? I've gone out with guys before. And it's not like you've met Leonard to know he was going to ask me out. I didn't even know." Penny said defensively, folding her arms over her chest.

"Sweetheart, calm down, I know. You've just been talking about him all week, blushing when you mention his name, and getting all excited when the answer of your math problem matches what's in the book. You obviously liked him, I'm happy that he asked you out on a date."

"Hey, it is _not _obvious!"

"I'm your mother, of course it's obvious." Meryl pointed the spatula at Penny before turning to stir the pan.

Glaring at her mother for a moment with her jaw jutted out, Penny finally released a breath, dropping her arms and huffing "okay, yes, I like Leonard."

"So-o, are you going to tell me about him now?"

"Now what?"

Meryl raised a brow at her daughter. "Now that you're going on a date with him and admitted out loud that you like him."

"Why are you being so nosey?" Penny scoffed at her mother, before sighing, and leaning forwards to rest her chin in her hand. "He's really sweet. And really, _really _smart. Oh, and he plays the cello! Which is a bit random but oh well. Here..." Penny pulled her phone out, opening her photo album and holding it out to her mom, open on the photo she had taken with Leonard. "That's me and him. I took it today."

Taking the phone, Meryl smiled. The look of pure joy on Penny's face in the photograph warmed her heart. "Sweetheart, that's lovely."

Penny grinned proudly. "What do you think of Leonard? He's cute, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is." Meryl agreed, as she studied the photograph. "He looks very smart. I like his glasses. He has a kind face."

"I like his glasses too. He let me try them on." Penny leaned over to swipe the photo back. "Oh - that's me studying. Told you I was studying." She swiped again to move to the photo of her in his glasses. "There."

"Oh, well don't you look smart!" Meryl giggled. "Crap!" She turned back to the pan as it started to hiss. "It's okay, it's not burnt. So, when are you two going on your date?"

"I dunno. He said he'd call me to arrange it."

"Well you're just going to be staring at your phone all weekend, aren't you sweetheart? Go get changed, we'll head up to the horses after dinner. That'll take your mind off of things for a bit and make you less nervous."

* * *

"Hello?"

"Hi."

"What's up?"

Leonard furrowed his brow. He wondered if this would have been easier to discuss with his brother in person rather than over the phone. Well, he wasn't going to go visit him just to talk to him. "I asked Penny out on a date."

"Whoa, what? Well done buddy! Hold on, who is Penny? Tell me about her."

"Oh, umm, she's - I was helping her study this week. We went to that Frozen Yoghurt place the other day too. What else... well, she's really pretty, really nice, and she's a cheerleader-"

"A _cheerleader_? You asked out a _cheerleader_? Did she say yes?" Michael raised his brows in anticipation, deciding his work could definitely wait.

"Yeah. Yeah, she said yes."

"Dude! You want me to buy you some champagne for a romantic first date or something? Condoms? Does she know mom is a total nutbag?"

"Uh..." Leonard chuckled nervously. "No, no, and no. It's only a first date."

"Yeah, alright. I'm so impressed. I knew when you finally asked a girl out properly on a date, it'd be someone really impressive and it'd put me to shame. You really do have balls."

"Okay. Well, the problem is... I've never really done this before. When do I call her? What do we do for our first date?" Leonard sat down on the couch, kicking his shoes off.

"Call her... tomorrow, maybe Sunday. Yeah, probably Sunday. And I don't know... a restaurant, that's always nice. Nowhere too fancy, but not like, a Pizza Hut. Trust me, that is _not _a good idea."

"What if-"

"Don't 'what if' yourself, Leonard. You'll probably come up with something really good. Just be yourself, she likes that, so don't try to be all.. different. Yeah?"

"Yeah, okay. When I decide what we're doing I'll text you and you have to tell me if it's too lame or if the place sucks or anything."

"Alright, I will. I bet you have some secret knack for romantic things like that." Michael chuckled.

"Probably not." Leonard shrugged. "Anyway, thanks. My friends would have been so useless with this. I'm just so nervous. I didn't think she would say yes."

"What made you ask her? You must have had a pretty good instinct to go on, considering you asked out a _cheerleader_."

"Come on Michael, just 'cause she's a cheerleader doesn't make her different to any other girl." Leonard rolled his eyes. "I dunno. She was just being really nice all week and I thought... I might as well try. If she says no, I'll get over it. But she didn't, so... this is kind of harder than if she _had _said no, now I have to actually plan a really good first date!"

"Ah, it'll be fine. Trust me. Don't over-plan it. Oh, and don't overthink it, you always do that, and it's never worth it. Just let things happen. And let me know how it goes the next day! It's going to make all this work _way _more interesting." Michael sighed as he looked at all the books spread across his desk.

"Yeah, okay, I'll try. And I will. I suppose I should let you get back to your work now, then."

"Suppose I should get to my work, yeah." Michael laughed. "Alright, well, good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it."

"Nah, you won't. I'll speak to you later in the week then, yeah?"

"Yeah. Bye, Michael."

"Alright, bye. Speak soon."

Hanging up the phone, Leonard sighed as he hauled himself back off the couch, picking up his shoes to put them out in the hallway. Picking up his bag, he trudged up the stairs to his room. He really hadn't counted on Penny accepting his offer and therefore having to actually make plans. Not because he thought she'd shoot him down because she was a horrible person, but because he had no self-confidence and didn't expect her to _want _to go on a date with him. He smiled smugly to himself as he entered his bedroom; she'd accepted to go on a date with _him, _rather than one of the tall, athletic, muscular, better looking guys girls like Penny were often seen with.

Would he see her on Monday and walk home with her again, as they had been doing for the past week? What if it was awkward, with their upcoming date? He shook his head, dropping his bag onto his bed as he walked over to the television stand to switch on his Xbox. Michael had told him not to overthink things, and that was probably really good advice. He'd worry too much otherwise. Maybe he'd tell his friends tomorrow when they met up for their Doctor Who Tenth Doctor Marathon. But then again... they wouldn't really understand, and probably make him even more nervous than he already was. No, he'd wait until _after _the date to tell them, when he had more of an idea of how things would work out. If they worked out.

_Stop it, _he told himself as he flopped onto the beanbag at the bottom of his bed with the control for his Xbox. _Just try not to think about it too much. _

His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. He raised a brow when he saw it was from Penny; surely she wasn't studying already and needed his help this soon after they'd left school for the day? Unlocking his phone, he went to view the message. "Here's the picture of us from earlier, I thought you'd like it. Smiley face, kiss." Leonard read aloud, a small smile curling onto his mouth. Clicking on the image, he let himself enjoy the sigh of the two of them together, before saving it to his phone. Penny seemed happy. Maybe he didn't really need to be as nervous as he was.


	4. Waiting

Having spent her entire morning studying, after eating her lunch, Penny decided to extend her break and watch some television. She was beginning to struggle with focusing on her work anyway, spending most of her time glancing frantically at her phone. Sitting down on the couch with a cup of hot tea, she placed her phone on her thigh as she tucked her legs to the side. Placing the cup on the arm of the couch - she'd become a master of balancing various dishes on there - she switched on the television.

"Oh, Penny, sweetheart, you and your phone again!" Meryl laughed gently as she walked into the front room with a mug of coffee.

Blushing gently, Penny rolled her eyes at her mother before picking up the remote control to switch the television set on. "Look, I really don't want to miss the call." She admitted.

"A watched pot never boils." Meryl raised her brows at Penny pointedly before sitting down on the opposite end of the couch, cradling her mug of coffee between both hands.

"What're you talking about?" Penny shot a confused look at her mother before returning to scroll through the TV Guide.

"Sweetheart, you keeping your phone with you twenty-four seven isn't going to _make _it ring."

"Yeah, I know that!" Penny finally settled on a show to watch. "And it's not twenty-four seven. But I just don't want to _not _be with my phone when it _does _ring, you see?"

"Ah, if only he knew you were waiting like this for him to call... it would calm all his nerves, probably." Meryl smirked.

"Hey, I don't have my phone with me _just _because I'm waiting for him to call me-"

"Yes you are."

"-other people want to talk to me too, Mom. I mean, not right now, because I haven't answered anyone's messages yet, but they do, so, just in case."

"If it weren't for the fact that you're expecting him to call you wouldn't have it by you _all _the time, though. Including at the dinner table. And in your jacket pocket when we were at the stables."

Turning her head to glare at her mother for a moment, Penny sighed after a while, knowing that she was right. "Whatever. Shut up."

With a knowing smirk, Meryl returned her attention to the television. The two of them quietly watched the screen, laughing lightly at the jokes - both had the same sense of humor. Meryl would still catch Penny glancing down at her phone every few minutes, taking a sip of her tea each time she saw nothing on the phone screen.

It was two episodes later that Penny checked her phone again and threw it back down onto the couch. "Why the hell isn't he calling? Is my phone broken or something? Ugh!"

"Alright, sweetheart, calm down." Meryl reached a hand out to rub Penny's arm reassuringly.

"I don't even know why I'm so _bothered _by this!" Penny groaned, frustrated with herself, the anticipation of waiting not helping the situation. "Like, he's just a guy, and it's just a date. It's not like I haven't done this before. Ugh this is just so stupid!"

"Probably because you actually like him. Listen, sweetheart, just _stop _thinking about it and relax. The poor boy is probably even more nervous than you are, he's the one that's going to call you."

"He probably is... you're right." Penny nodded slowly. "I'm going to go to the bathroom and... I'll leave my phone here. It's probably best not to make a date while you're on the toilet anyway."

"No, not the best idea. It's not particularly romantic or appealing in any way." Meryl agreed. "I'll tell you if he calls, sweetheart."

"Good. Okay."

Just as Penny stepped out into the hallway, Meryl saw the screen of Penny's phone light up, with Leonard's name written at the top and the picture of the both of them filling the screen with a green 'Answer' slider at the bottom. Eyes wide, she picked up the phone. "Penny!"

Penny was back in the room like a dart, her eyes wide with panic. "What?" She noticed the phone in her mother's hand. "Oh my God is he calling?"

"Yes! Now take it and answer it!"

"Oh my God. Okay." Penny took a deep breath before taking the phone and sliding the answer button, speaking as she left the room. "Leonard? Hey."

Meryl caught the blush on her daughters cheek before she managed to shut the door behind her.

"Hi, Penny." Leonard said on the other end of the line, fiddling nervously with a loose thread on the end of his comforter.

"Hi." Penny grinned stupidly as she walked to her room, before mentally kicking herself to say something. "How are you?"

"Yeah, I'm good, thanks. And you? How is your weekend going?"

"Umm, yeah, it's good." Penny closed her bedroom door and sat herself on the edge of her bed. All of a sudden it hit her how lame it must have seemed that she had spent her entire weekend waiting on a single phone call. That definitely wasn't something she was going to tell him. "What about yours? Did you beat your friends at that video game you told me about?"

"Uh-huh." Leonard perked up a little now. "I did, which was really funny. Obviously they weren't too happy about it but you know, the winner takes it all!"

"Oh, that's good." Penny giggled.

"Are you getting on okay with your studying?"

"Actually, I am, thank you. I got a bit stuck this morning on one of the sums and I was going to text you, but then I figured it out so... I didn't text you. Umm, but, other than that, it's going pretty well."

"That's good to hear. I'm not disturbing your studying right now, am I?"

"No, no, I was just watching TV with my mom." _And waiting for you to call me_. "I thought I'd take a break. I'll do some more studying later after I've done this piece of Creative Writing for my class."

"Oh, that sounds good."

"Yeah, it'll be quite nice. I like Creative Writing... so it doesn't feel as homework-y as most other things."

He remembered with a smile that she'd told him she liked her English and Literature classes, but he didn't know that she enjoyed Creative Writing. Briefly, he wondered if she'd ever let him read some of it. "Yeah, it's good to have something you enjoy to make it easier."

"It does." Penny agreed.

There was a nervous silence for a few seconds, before Leonard cleared his throat. _Now, be cool. Remember what Michael told you. _"So, uh, I was actually calling to ask about, you know, the date, and, umm, when you were free-"

"Tuesday." Penny said quickly, without any thought. She slapped a hand to her head as she realized she hadn't even given him time to finish his question before giving him an answer, and how much it gave away how eager she was. "Uh," she giggled nervously, "I mean, I'm free on Tuesday... and Friday too, I think."

"Oh, okay. Cool." He hadn't expected her to select a day so close.

"I mean, I'm going to my friends house tomorrow and Wednesday I promised Mom I'd go help her out with the horses, and Thursday I have this party... so, umm, yeah, Tuesday is good for me, unless you can't do that, then we can just wait until Friday or next week-"

"No, no, Tuesday is good for me." Leonard cut in, not wanting to wait an entire week for their date.

"Oh! Okay, yeah, great then." Penny grinned widely, lying back against her pillows.

"Cool." Leonard grinned stupidly, folding his legs beneath him. "Okay, so... yeah."

"Yeah." Penny giggled.

"Uh, I'll pick you up at eight on Tuesday then?" Leonard started to feel nervous again, now that they were actually arranging this.

"Okay, that works. I'll give you my address tomorrow. You wanna walk home together again?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice. Then you can tell me how your Math test went. How are you feeling about it?"

"More confident than I was a week ago, that's for sure." Penny smiled, tracing patterns on her comforter. "You wanna meet by the gates after school then?"

"Alright. I have to drop off my extra credit paper to the science lab so I might be a few minutes late."

"Ooh, extra credit huh? Smarty-pants."

Leonard could practically picture her sticking her tongue out at him. "Yeah, I know, it's lame."

"It's not lame! I think it's pretty cool that you still find the time to do extra work and that you really enjoy... science and stuff. You know, you're smart. That's cool."

"Most people don't think so." Leonard shrugged.

"Well, I do."

"Oh. Thanks." He was grateful she wasn't there to see how hard he was blushing. "So, umm, is there anything you want to do on Tuesday?"

"I don't mind. Surprise me!" Penny giggled again.

"Okay, I'll think of something." Leonard made a mental note to start researching as soon as he got off the phone. "So, I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Uh-huh." Penny nodded slowly. "See you tomorrow, Leonard."

"Bye, Penny."

As they hung up after a moment of silence, Penny felt those butterflies in her stomach again and found herself wishing they were actually there together in person so she could hug him. For a while, she simply lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, their conversation replaying in her mind. It was only when she heard the front door open and close, and her fathers voice, that she was brought back to reality. Dragging herself off her bed and pocketing her phone, she went down the hallway to find her parents in the front room. Her father in his usual armchair, her mother still at one end of the couch like she had been earlier.

"Sweetheart, how you doing?" Wyatt asked as she walked in, sitting back down in her earlier spot. "You fancy helping me with Martin's tractor next weekend?"

"Do I get money for it?" Penny raised a brow.

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll do it then." Penny grinned.

"So how was your phone call with Leonard?" Meryl asked teasingly.

"Phone call with Leonard?" Wyatt raised a brow.

"Oh, umm, yeah, it's was good." The involuntary blush crossed her face once more. "Uh, we, we're going on our date on Tuesday."

"A _date? _I thought this boy was just helping you study?"

"He was, Daddy, but he asked me out and... I kinda like him, and I said yes." Penny said, almost defensively. "So, yeah, we're going on a date. On Tuesday."

"Alright." Wyatt leaned back in his armchair. "I want to meet this guy."

"Daddy," Penny groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Is he coming to pick you up from here?"

"Yes."

"Good, he's off to a good start then."

"Wyatt, honey, I'm sure he's a great guy. He sounds like a great guy. You've seen how much work Penny's been doing recently - it's not easy to convince her do her Math work!" Meryl assured him.

"I'm sure he's a great guy. I just want you to be careful, Penny, that's all."

"God, Dad, I'm not going to suddenly turn into Bridget!" Penny scoffed. "I'm going on a date with Leonard because I _like _him, not because it's been two days since a guy was in my bed."

"You ought to be nicer about your sister." Meryl pointed out.

"I was just making a point." Penny folded her arms over her chest.

"To be fair, she really does like him." Meryl said to Wyatt with a shrug. "The other day she wouldn't admit she liked him and know she's actually saying it and getting all defensive, that's a good sign." Penny turned her head to glare at her mother for a moment, before turning back to the television. Meryl giggled. "What? It's true."

"Alright, I believe you, but I still want to meet him." Wyatt shrugged a little.

"Ugh, Daddy, do you really have to?" Penny pulled a face, relenting after a few seconds when her father simply looked at her with raised brows, knowing that this meant there was no more room to argue with him. "Alright _fine _you can speak to him but you better be nice."

"Of course I'll be nice."

"Oh yeah sure, like you were 'nice' to Bridget's boyfriend...s." Penny lifted her brows to him.

"Well there were a lot of them, I had to do something about it." Wyatt pointed out.

Penny couldn't help but laugh softly at this. "Yeah, true."

"Listen, sweetheart, all he's going to do is talk to him and get to know him a little bit." Meryl said to Penny. "Besides, you know you won't be ready by whatever time he said he'd arrive, he's going to meet him anyway. Neither of us have particularly good time keeping skills."

"Yeah... that's true I suppose." Penny sighed.

"And based on these last few days, you'll be in your room overthinking your outfit the second you hear the doorbell ring."

"I won't scare him, I promise." Wyatt chuckled.

* * *

Pacing his room, Leonard furrowed his brow, still in disbelief that he'd manage to get a date with Penny and decide on a time... now he just needed a place. And an outfit. What was he supposed to wear on a date? With a sudden stroke of genius, he rushed from his room to Michael's room, heading straight for his closet. Opening the door, he began to rummage through the clothes he had left behind. Surely he'd have thought to leave behind a casual sports coat that he could accompany with his dark pants he saved for smart-casual occasions? Breathing a sigh of relief, he located it hanging a few hangers along from a red shirt that Leonard could remember him wearing the Christmas before. Grabbing the sports coat, he headed back to his room.

That was one thing sorted out. He hung it up neatly in his closet, locating his black pants too and placing them next to the coat. The shirt he could decide on Tuesday when he returned from school; he didn't want to _over _plan this all. But he did need to find a place. Grabbing his laptop, he flumped down on his bed, tapping away quickly, fueled by nerves and adrenaline. It took him half an hour to find and decide on a place that wasn't too fancy and not too casual. Feeling quite confident that she would like it, because she had told him that she likes Italian food, he booked a table for two.

Now that it was almost all sorted out, he felt a lot more relaxed. He had taken all the steps, and she hadn't shot any of them down. Every step forward reassured him more and more that she really did want to do this. Allowing a smile to form on his face, he decided that perhaps he could tackle finishing his paper that was due tomorrow - yesterday's nerves and anticipation over having to call her had gotten in the way, but it seemed much more appealing. He only had to get through two days of school, anyway. Though those two days would have been a lot easier a week ago, before Penny had entered his life.


	5. Monday

"Hey!" Penny grinned, skipping over to Leonard, who looked up from his phone. "You beat me here, I'm sorry, we just quickly met up with Hannah to give her money so her sister could buy us all drink for the party on Thursday. Oh, did you hand in your extra credit paper?"

Leonard was astounded at how easily and quickly she spoke, skipping from one thing from another. He nodded his head slightly, wondering if perhaps this awkward day-before pre-date walk home was just awkward in his head. He did have a habit of overthinking things, after all. "That's okay, I haven't been here long. Yeah, I did, feels good to get it out of the way. How did your Math test go?" He smiled at her as they began walking.

"Pretty well, I think. Some bits were really hard but I answered all of the questions and most of it made sense to me, which is a change. But, thanks to you, I'm feeling pretty good about it." Penny beamed at him proudly. "I really think I'll pass this one, and with a decent grade too."

"That's good to hear, I'm glad." Leonard couldn't help but enjoy the warm feeling of pride he had in his heart at her words, or the soft smile that accompanied it. "When do you find out how you did?"

"Next week, I guess." Penny shrugged. "God I hope I did well... I feel like I did, so that's good, right?"

"It is."

"Alright, good. So, any plans for tonight?"

_Aside from panicking over our date tomorrow? Not particularly, no, _Leonard sighed inwardly, fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket again. "Not really," he shook his head, "just homework. You?"

"Mm, I have homework to do and then I'm going to my friends." _And rummaging through my closet and possibly my sisters to find an outfit for tomorrow. _

"Did you get your Creative Writing done yesterday?" Leonard asked, determined not to let their upcoming date get in the way of their conversational ease too much.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I did, it was pretty easy. Well, no, it _wasn't _easy, the assignment, but when I got started it was easy, and I enjoyed it."

"I think you should show me some of your work," Leonard teased with a big grin on his face, nudging her lightly in the side.

Penny felt her cheeks go red. "No," she giggled, before chewing on her lip. "it's not that good."

"Oh yeah? What did you get for your last assignment?"

"Umm, an A," her blush increased now, "but I think the teacher is just generous with her marking."

"Oh, come on, don't be modest, you deserve that grade, and I bet you've got it more than once for your work." He looked over at her, and he knew he was right when she gave a slight shrug of her shoulder and twisted her lips. "You don't have to show me if you don't want, it's okay."

"I just... I'm not really good at 'school' things, you know? So the fact that I'm actually okay at this is... weird. Maybe I'll show you something one day, but you could always just come see my exam piece for my Drama class in two weeks - I like acting, that's my best subject." She looked up at him hopefully.

"Sure, that would be pretty cool, actually." He smiled at her; she looked pretty confident with herself now, a look he hadn't seen much of on her before. It suited her.

"Yay! I'll let you know when I find out if we're doing ours on Tuesday or Wednesday." She clapped her hands together excitedly, before stopping at the parting of the road and once more, felt her heart drop. "I swear this walk is way quicker when you're not doing it alone."

"Yeah, feels like it." Leonard agreed, a wave of disappointment coursing through him.

"Mm." Penny frowned, before gasping and pulling out a notebook from her bag, along with a pen. "Here, I'll write my address down for you." She felt her heart race as she scribbled down her home address with a shaky hand, tearing the page out and handing it to him.

"Oh," Leonard smiled nervously at her as he pocketed the piece of paper. "Great. Thanks."

"Yeah. Oh, and, umm, don't pull up in the driveway. My dad hates that. Just... pull up outside the house on the road. Please. He's... he's just really weird like that and his trucks in the drive anyway."

"Oh, yeah, sure, of course."

"Thanks."

"So... I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

Leaning in, they gave each other a tight hug, looking at each other for a moment before they pulled away properly. Uttering out quick 'goodbye's, they turned swiftly, each as nervous as the other.

* * *

"How does that sound, then, movies tomorrow night at my house?" Asked Jamie McKenna, a girl in the year above Penny.

The girls, a majority of the cheer squad, agreed to this plan. Penny looked around Valerie's living room awkwardly for a moment, before clearing her throat slightly. "Actually, umm, I can't tomorrow," she said quietly, almost hoping nobody would hear her.

"What? Why?" Valerie raised a brow at her.

"Uh, I have a date." Penny took a sip of her diet coke, hoping the glass would hide her face, which she could feel burning red.

After the room had given a chorus of "ooh", Cheryl turned to grin at Penny. "Who's the lucky guy?"

"It's, umm, Leonard."

"Eh?"

"Who?"

"I... Leonard. Leonard Hofstadter."

"The guy in my year?"

"Oh my God, he's _really _good at chess!" Kim blurted out from Penny's right.

"What?!" Penny exclaimed, getting momentarily panicked. "How do you know that?"

"But Leonard Hofstadter's like... a nerd."

"Why were you watching people play chess?"

"Relax, I promised Dave I'd watch him play chess if he... never mind. Anyway, it was kind of embarrassing for him because Leonard won." Kim shrugged.

"Dave? Dave Underhill?"

"Yeah." Kim tilted her head. "He asked me out in Physics class, I had to flirt with him a little to help me with this paper we had to do and I needed an A."

"Seriously you're sleeping with _Dave_?" Penny pulled a disgusted face. "You know we were making out and his _girlfriend _that he hadn't mentioned before walked in on us?"

"He tried to take naked pictures of me," Hannah laughed, "I would have let him if it wasn't for the fact that his girlfriend text him right as he got his phone out to do so."

"Wow, he really is some guy."

"Yeah... his now _ex-_girlfriend does _not _like me." Kim bit her lip. "Oh well. So, Leonard Hofstadter, huh?"

"Umm... yeah."

"But like... why?" Valerie turned her head to Penny. "He's a _nerd_. A _real _nerd."

All the girls turned to look at Penny silently, waiting for an answer.

"Well... he was helping me study last week, for Math. And he's a really great guy, you know. Just because he's smart, and yeah, he's kinda nerdy, but still. I really enjoyed spending time with him and the whole smart thing is... it's kinda hot, honestly. So when he asked me out... I said yes. I like him." Penny added defiantly, sitting up a little straighter. If they were going to make fun of her, they might as well know that she actually liked him, rather than making it seem as though she had just said 'yes' for the sake of it.

"He did seem pretty cool, compared to most of them." Kim nodded slowly. "I get the 'smart-is-sexy' thing, actually, he has that going on with those glasses. I mean, I could definitely have slept with him when he won that game of chess."

"Kim!" Penny hit Kim's arm with a scowl on her face, unable to help the slight jealousy from flaring up.

"What? God, I said I _could_, I'm not _going _to."

"You know, he did seem nice when I was partnered with him in Chemistry." Jamie added slowly.

"As long as he's not like that Howard guy." Valerie shuddered.

"Ew, like I would ever say yes to _him_."

"Oh my God, he is _so _creepy."

"Have you seen his _mom_?"

"What is up with those turtle necks? Nobody's worn them since like… well, ages ago."

As they all chipped in with comments about Howard, Penny felt herself relax. They hadn't exactly been as excited or supportive as she had wished they would be, but at least her friends weren't laughing at her or making horrible jokes about him. After a moment she realized she was laughing at one of the girls comments; the pressure had lifted off her. "Well, I guess that guys asked out like the entire squad then!"

"Yeah, looks like it." Anna, a girl in Penny's Literature class, nodded.

"Okay, so, I know Penny's going on her date with Leonard tomorrow and that's cool, but Kim, this doesn't mean you're allowed to invite Dave." Jamie raised her eyebrows pointedly at Kim.

"Ew, why would I invite him, we're sleeping with each other, not dating. I would _not _date someone like him."

"You say that..." Penny giggled.

"Penny's right there, you know."

"Oh, shut up." Kim shook her head, rolling her eyes.

* * *

"Remember, it's your turn to pay for the pizza tomorrow. And don't be late to pick me up to go to the comic book store tomorrow like you were last week." Sheldon looked up at Leonard, pausing in packing away his spare X-Box controllers.

"Umm, actually, I'm not going tomorrow. So I'm not going to be able to take you. Sorry." Leonard said slowly, standing from the couch.

"Why not?" Howard Wolowitz asked with an amused chuckle. "You ask out that cheerleader chick you were tutoring last week and got a date with her?"

"Good one." Rajesh Koothrappali giggled from Howard's side, his hands in the pockets of his grey baggy cargo pants.

Leonard straightened up and folded his arms over his chest, tilting his chin up slightly. "Actually, I did."

There was a moment of silence before Sheldon said "well that's a _bazinga _if there ever was one."

"Wait. Hold on... Leonard doesn't look like he's lying." Howard pointed at Leonard. "You're... you're serious?"

"Yes."

"Dude... you asked out a _cheerleader_?"

"Yes. I did."

"We must have entered some kind of parallel universe while we were playing that game." Sheldon stated. "It's the only explanation for this sudden turn of events, and for why Leonard would ditch me for a female."

"What is so unbelievable about me asking her out? Okay, yeah, don't answer that, but, I did, and she said yes, so... there you go."

"I can't believe it! I've asked out every single member of the cheer squad multiple times and never gotten a yes. You ask her out _once _and she says yes the first time? What the hell?" Howard exclaimed.

"To be fair, Leonard is a less repulsive human being than you are." Sheldon offered.

Howard chose to ignore this comment. "So you're seriously telling me you asked out a cheerleader and she said yes and tomorrow the two of you are going on a date?"

"One hundred percent serious." Leonard confirmed.

"Way to go, dude." Raj grinned, patting Leonard on the arm. "If I could talk to girls properly, I would so ask for how you managed to ask her out."

"I think what we need to focus on is the fact that Leonard has abandoned his promise to drive me to the comic book store every week and one of you two need to decide on who gets to drive me instead." Sheldon gestured between Raj and Howard. "And by the way, the answer to that is Raj. I refuse to get in Howard's car after he told us what he did in the back seat. I'm not comfortable being in such an environment."

"Oh man." Raj grumbled. "Fine, I'll take you, Sheldon."

"Have fun with that." Leonard grinned smugly. "I'll be having fun on my date with Penny while you spend some quality time with Sheldon."

"Please, you're going to be sweating through your shirt." Raj scoffed.

"Only _before _leaving for the actual date!" Leonard furrowed his brow. "Besides, even if I am, it's fine, my sports coat will hide it."

"And what happens when you're outside, and she says she's cold, so you offer her your jacket? You take it off and... Bam, no more dates for Leonard Hofstadter." Howard shrugged with his arms out.

"That is not going to happen! You guys suck, you were supposed to be supportive." Leonard pulled his bag over his shoulder, slightly annoyed, even though he had known he'd probably get this kind of response from his friends. It was the exact same he would have given Howard or Raj (Sheldon didn't apply because he constantly insisted he was 'above the banalities of dating') had they gotten a date with anybody.

"We will be supportive when we get around to really believing that this is happening and you don't totally freeze up on your date tomorrow night." Howard laughed.

"Hey, I've spent a whole week with her, I think I'll be fine tomorrow." Leonard said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. What if they were right; what if something embarrassing like that _did _happen? And what if he got so nervous that he simply couldn't speak to her the whole time?

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Howard commented after a moment, as he caught Leonard staring into space, wide-eyed and pale.

"The idea of that is preposterous." Sheldon muttered, though he cast a look around him warily just in case.

"Huh? What?" Leonard blinked a few times, rubbing his now sweaty palms on the sides of his jacket.

"Relax, we were just kidding." Howard reassured him, when Leonard's face didn't relax from its panicked expression. "I'm sure you won't be _that _bad on your date."

"But buy high-quality anti-perspirant, just in case." Raj added with a small nod.

"Yeah... whatever, I have a date and none of you guys do." Leonard chuckled, the sentence sounding unbelievable even to himself. "I'm going now anyway, I need to write a conclusion for my History essay."

"You left your essay without a conclusion?" Sheldon looked at Leonard as though he were mad. "Won't you have forgotten all of the points you made and thus effectively making your conclusion inconsistent to the body of the essay?"

"Umm, no, I think I'll be fine."

"Alright then, your loss when you don't get full marks."

"I think I'll be okay with _not _getting full marks on a History essay." Leonard rolled his eyes. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."


	6. First Date

"Why is your entire closet so full of clothes that don't even qualify as clothes?!" Penny exclaimed to nobody, glaring at the door of her sisters closet, which she'd just slammed shut with slightly too much force. "_Ugh _now I have to wear my own clothes and I don't _have _any," she mumbled as she trudged back into her own bedroom, flopping down onto the bed. For a few minutes she simply lay there, staring blankly ahead of her, groaning and kicking her feet every so often like a small child on the verge of a tantrum. As her eyes travelled across her room, they caught sight of the clock, and it suddenly hit her that she only had twenty minutes left until Leonard would arrive. Forcing herself back off of the bed, she sighed, dropping her robe, before pulling her closet door open once more.

Studying the crammed-in clothes for a moment, Penny bit her lip. Slowly, she began to pull out every single dress she owned, throwing them onto her bed in two piles: 'maybe' and 'definitely not'. A few minutes passed and there were only three in the 'maybe' pile - which she supposed was a good thing, as it would make deciding on one easier. She grabbed the rest by the top of the hanger and shoved them back into her closet, ignoring the ones that didn't quite make it onto the rail and simply fell to the floor.

Picking up the top dress, she shoved it on and studied herself in the mirror for a moment, before shaking her head. "I really don't know why I bought this," she mumbled, before pulling it off over her head and placing it back on her bed. Stepping into the second one, she tilted her head slightly as she ran her hands over the red material before placing her hands on her hips, staring at herself judgmentally. "Maybe..." She scowled as she pulled the dress off. "Wish I had Bridget's boobs. But no. You could hold off on the pot for babies one and two but obviously number three was _just _too much, thanks, Mom." Sighing, she pulled on the third dress, quickly frowning when she caught sight of herself. "Oh God, definitely not."

Tugging the dress off, she hung it up in her closet, and did the same with the first dress. Looking at the red dress she had deemed acceptable for her date with Leonard, Penny made her way over to her dresser, where she began rummaging through her underwear drawer. Finally finding what she was searching for - a bra her sister had brought her half a year ago that she insisted she wouldn't wear but was now actually quite thankful for - she got about getting changed.

This process didn't take her too long, and she found herself with seven minutes to spare. Looking at herself in the mirror, she nodded slightly, deciding that this was now an acceptable outfit. She hoped Leonard would like it, that he didn't think it made her look too much like her friends did when they went out, but that it still resembled 'sexy' in some way - though she felt ridiculous just thinking this.

"My hair!" Penny gasped, as she noticed that it was still clipped up from when she had been doing her make-up earlier. She had straightened it earlier, but as she pulled the clip out she began worrying there would be a kink. Grabbing a large hand-held mirror she kept for such emergencies (her sisters idea), she held it behind her as she stood in front of her mirror. Breathing a sigh of relief, she saw that her hair was still fine, and she put the mirror down. Brushing through it quickly, she sat down to touch her make-up up one final time.

Taking the eyelash curler, she froze slightly as she heard motion in the hallway. Although she couldn't make out the voices or the words, she knew it must be Leonard. Not wanting to hurry, she decided to return her focus to her face. Her dad wanted to talk to him anyway, and she needed to make sure her make-up was still intact. Once she had re-curled her eyelashes, touched up her eyeliner and added a light layer of red lipstick and a clear gloss to stop it staining, she had deemed herself fit to go. Getting up, she gave herself a final once-over in the mirror, smoothing down her dress before picking up the small black bag she had packed earlier before leaving her room.

* * *

Taking a calming breath before switching on the engine, Leonard turned to Penny to check she had her seatbelt on. He gave her a smile when she caught him looking over, and started the car, driving off carefully.

It was only once they'd reached the main road before Penny's nerves had eased somewhat and she asked, "so where are we off to tonight?"

"There's this Italian place in town that I found," Leonard replied, gulping through his dry throat.

"Ooh, I love Italian food!" Penny grinned, cutting in before he had managed to finish explaining where they were going.

"Yeah, I remembered you do," Leonard chuckled. "It's not too far and I have a table booked."

"That sounds like fun." Penny nodded, tapping her hands gently on her knees before turning to look at him for a moment. "You look really smart and cute dressed like this."

Blushing, he looked at her quickly, before moving his eyes back to focus on the road. "Oh, umm, thanks." He had spent an hour going through all his shirts, categorizing between 'too formal', 'too casual' and 'possible'. He had managed to not sweat through his shirt, like Howard said he would, and by the feel of it, it was so far so good. "You look..." Leonard paused, remembering he'd already used the word 'beautiful' just minutes earlier. It was just the first word that came to mind to describe the way she looked. "You look amazing."

"Thanks." Penny giggled nervously. "I like getting dressed up. I know it's lame, but I spent _so _long trying to decide what to wear. But I still enjoy it. Much more than the usual choose a pair of jeans, and pull on a sweater thing for school. I just feel like I _always _wear the same clothes, you know?" She silently told herself to stop rambling.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Leonard shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I've never really thought about it, to be honest. I just pull on a pair of pants and a t-shirt and that's about it."

"Suppose it's more of a girl thing, really, to think about clothes so much." Penny mused. "Do you have loads of those t-shirts then? Like, you know, the ones you always wear with a picture or... or science-y things on the front?"

He'd never spent so long discussing clothes, or thinking about his own closet so much. "Yeah, I suppose I have quite a lot of them. I wear them all the time, and if I see one I like that I don't have yet, I just buy it."

"It's so much easier for guys. You just put on a pair of pants and a t-shirt and you're done. Girls go through their closet to find something that matches, makes them look good, is suitable for the weather, won't look to slutty but not too nunly either... it's a long process, getting dressed." Penny sighed. "Though these days I just throw on whatever falls out of my closet first when I open it and hope for the best."

"Come on, you don't seriously do that." Leonard laughed.

"Yeah, I kind of do, but kind of don't. If it doesn't match I just change the top to something else." Penny shrugged. "Like, I can't wear red pants and a different shade of red sweater. So I put on a black sweater or something. It's easier than when I used to plan out my outfit entirely and be late to school because of it."

"Seriously?" Leonard raised a brow at her.

"Yeah, I know, I know, it's stupid." Penny rolled her eyes. "I'm _that _kind of girl."

"Well... I guess your love for the perfect outfit pays off, you always look nice."

"Aww," Penny tilted her head, smiling, "thank you."

"It's okay. You do. Oh, here we are." Leonard slowed the car down as they approached the restaurant. "We just need to find somewhere to park."

"Ooh, looks good." Penny nodded approvingly. She turned her head away from him to look out the window, before pointing in front of her. "There! Parking spot!"

* * *

Glancing at himself in the mirror, Leonard released a relieved breath. So far, so good. He hadn't crashed the car, he wasn't sweating through his shirt, Penny was happy. So far, none of the things he feared would happen had happened. As long as she was still at the table when he returned from the restroom, things were going great and his confidence was growing. Washing his hands slowly, he made sure not to accidentally splash water onto his shirt or pants. Once he'd dried his hands, he took a few calming breaths before returning to the restaurant seating area, his nerves fading when he saw that Penny was indeed still sitting at their table.

"Hey, you're back! The waitress came over and asked if we wanted drinks, so I got you a diet coke, is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure, I was going to get a diet coke anyway. Thanks. What's the menu like?"

"Really good. There's quite a few dishes without cheese on here. I think I'm gonna go for the seafood spaghetti one... I'm not going to embarrass myself trying to pronounce it, I _always _say these things wrong."

Looking down the menu, he found the dish she was talking about. "Oh, that does look good. Hmm." Looking through the list of meals, he twisted his mouth in thought. "I think I might try this pasta with vegetables. I'm not going to try pronounce it either."

Penny giggled. "It would be so much easier if they just kept the names of the meals in English, who can pronounce this anyway? Apart from, like, Italian people, obviously."

"Who knows." Leonard shrugged. "You wanna share some garlic bread with me for starters?"

"Mm, yeah, that sounds tasty."

"Here are your drinks." The waitress who had asked Penny about drinks earlier had now returned with two diet cokes, setting them both down on the table. "Are you ready to order?"

"Uh, yeah. I'll have... the... the seafood one." Penny pointed to the meal on the menu, before handing it to the waitress one she'd written it down.

"And I'll have the vegetable one." Leonard indicated his too. "And can we have some garlic bread to share as a starter please?"

"Okay, sure, thank you." The waitress took his menu too and left to place their orders.

"I'm just going to quickly go to the restroom too." Penny said quietly, standing up slowly.

"Alright, sure." Leonard nodded at her, watching as she walked away. She really did have a great figure, he thought to himself with a smile.

Looking around, he wondered if it looked as though he'd been stood up. He then realized that she'd sat here alone while he went to the bathroom, and felt a little better about sitting here by himself. He observed the various people dining here - a couple of families, quite a few couples at two-person tables like theirs, some larger tables which seemed to be friends on a nice evening out. It was a nice place, and didn't seem too overbearingly romantic - for a first date, that would have seemed like too much. Taking a sip of his diet coke, he tapped his foot lightly to the beat of the soft music playing through the room while he waited. He smiled when Penny returned and sat back down. She had just opened her mouth to say something when the waitress arrived with their starter, which she placed in the center of the table for them before leaving again.

Taking a small slice, Penny said "these two women in there were talking about nipple piercings."

"That sounds... painful." Leonard shuddered, also taking a slice of garlic bread.

"Yeah... apparently she regrets it and her boyfriend isn't happy about it." Penny laughed. "It was a weird conversation but you know... enough reason to decide I'm definitely never getting that piercing."

"Fair enough." Leonard nodded slowly, not really sure what he was meant to say about this topic. "This garlic bread is really nice."

"I know, so good." Penny agreed.

They finished the garlic bread with small talk about their day, Penny telling him about her lessons and Leonard telling her about his science project, which she was surprisingly interested in. By the time their main meals had arrived, their nerves from earlier had, for the most part, faded away. Although they were both still vividly aware that they were on a date, the conversation started to feel as easily as it had the week before when they had simply been talking as friends, without the added pressure of it being a date and having a more romantic element.

"You wanna try some of my spaghetti?" Penny asked, halfway through her meal. "It's _so _good."

"Oh, umm, sure." Leonard nodded. He was about to hold out his fork and take a small amount from her plate, but she had already swirled a forkful of spaghetti around her fork with bits of seafood and held it out to him. That was the second time they had shared cutlery, he realized as he took the fork and placed the food on his mouth. He nodded pleasantly as he chewed on the food and handed her fork back. "Mm, that really is good!"

"Told you!" Penny grinned.

"You wanna try some of mine?" Leonard offered.

"Ooh, yes please!"

Making sure to get a decent mix of vegetables and pasta, he held out his fork for her to take. Only instead of taking it from him, she simply placed her mouth around the end of the fork and ate the food from there. After a moment of surprise, he put his fork back in his plate so he wasn't just holding it there in front of her face, and watched as she ate. "How is it?"

"Mm," Penny nodded as she chewed on the food, not wanting to talk with her mouth full of food in front of him. "That is _really _good. I think it's safe to say you picked a really great place for us."

"Ah, well that's good. Thank you." Leonard grinned as a wave of relief washed over him; he had been hoping he had picked the right place for their date, the fact that she liked it reassured him that things were going well.

The rest of the meal passed by with a continuing ease, Leonard feeling more and more comfortable as the night went on. Considering this was the first proper date that he had even been on (he wasn't really sure playing video games with a girl, alone together, really counted, compared to this), it was working out far better than he had anticipated. Nothing bad had happened, she seemed to be enjoying herself, and he hadn't said anything overly nerdy and weird like he'd been worried about doing. He realized that not everybody wanted to talk about comic books and video games like his friends did, and he was fine with that. For dessert they both had a fruit salad, and he paid for their meals, refusing to let Penny put any money down.

As they stepped outside, they both glanced in the direction of where they had parked the car, but stopped instead of turning towards it. Leonard cleared his throat a little. "Do you want to go for a little walk?"

Her eyes lit up as a grin spread across her face. "Sure, I'd love that." As they began to walk in the opposite direction of the car, she slowly linked her arm through his, looking up at him as though to see he was okay with this. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. "It's a really nice night."

"It is." He agreed, enjoying the cool fresh air on his face. Suddenly he turned to her and asked, "you're not cold, are you?"

"Oh, no, I'm okay."

"You sure? You don't even have a cardigan, or one of those shawl thingies."

"Yeah, I know, but it's fine." Penny shrugged. "We're walking, I'll warm up anyway."

"Here." Leonard let go of her arm slowly and shrugged off his jacket. "I know it's super lame and cheesy, but take my jacket. I have long sleeves on anyway, and I don't want you to be cold."

"Aww, well I happen to love when this kind of lame and cheesy stuff happens in movies." Penny giggled as Leonard helped her into the jacket. Linking her arm back through his and curling her hands around the edges of the sleeves, she looked up at him. "Thank you, Leonard."

"It's okay. This is kind of stupid but it's my brother's sports coat. I have one, but it's... not really that nice." Leonard admitted. "According to my sister, corduroy is no longer in fashion."

"Well, she's right about that." Penny chuckled, before her eyes grew wide. "Oh my God, we could _so _go shopping one day and get you a new sports coat! That would be so much fun!"

"Yeah... yeah, alright, we could do that." He was just happy that she wanted to spend more time with him - even if it meant shopping, which he wasn't that much a fan of.

"Yay!" Penny flapped her free arm excitedly. "I love shopping."

"Really? I never would have guessed."

"Hmm, very funny there Mr. Sarcastic." Penny rolled her eyes. "To be fair, I went through my sisters clothes too. But this is my dress. I didn't even think about a shawl or anything. I don't think I even own one."

"Perhaps when we go shopping we need to buy you a shawl, then."

"Sounds like a good plan."

For the next couple of minutes, they walked contentedly in silence, occasionally looking to each other and smiling. They turned back around once they hit the roundabout at the end of the road, and Penny could tell that it was getting late by how tired she was beginning to feel. Leonard could tell too, and he quickly panicked that perhaps it was past the curfew Penny's dad had given them. He checked his watch and saw that they still just under a half hour left before she had to be home, and silently thanked his time keeping skills.

"Leonard?" Penny said after a while, tilting her head to lean slightly on his arm.

"Yeah?"

"Are you doing anything after school tomorrow?"

"No. Why?"

"Shall we get some frozen yoghurt after school?"

Leonard smiled. "Sure."

* * *

The drive home was fairly quiet; he switched the radio on and Penny told him she wanted to go to one of the school orchestra concerts to see him play cello. He said she didn't have to because they were always boring, but she insisted that she wanted to go.

Once he'd pulled up outside her house, he helped her out of the car and walked her to the front door, their arms linked once more. The lights at the front were out, but Penny knew her mother was probably waiting for her in the kitchen. A feeling of reluctance to give back his jacket and for the date to end filled her; it was like the disappointment whenever they parted ways after school, only magnified. "I had a really great time, Leonard. Thank you for tonight."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. I had a great time too."

Shifting her weight slightly, Penny bit her lip. "Leonard, I'm really happy that you asked me out. I always say I'm one of those people who just goes for it, and I am in some ways, but... I would have been too scared to actually ask you. Like, I would've done it eventually, but I probably would've been drunk or something because I _suck _with feelings and stuff... so, yeah, thank you."

"It's okay, I get it. It was - I'm not going to lie - terrifying asking you, and I was sure you were going to say no and laugh at me, so, thank _you_, Penny." Leonard smiled at her softly, and she could have sworn that in that moment, her heart melted.

"For the record, I never would have said no to you, Leonard."

Once the words had left her mouth, fuelled by adrenaline and nerves and the smile on her face, Leonard leaned in and gently captured her lips. Placing one of his hands lightly on her cheek, the other held her waist. Her arms wrapped around his neck, lips responding instantly as she refused to miss out on even a second of their first kiss. The butterflies in her stomach exploded; of all the people she had kissed, it had never felt as wonderful or captivating as this. It felt like a fairytale moment from a movie to her, one she had seen many times and was finally getting to experience for herself. It was frightening but incredibly addictive and delightful all at once. Leonard, on the other hand, felt himself relax: perhaps he didn't know much about women, or dating, or kissing, but he knew this was a good sign, and he knew that this felt _right_. The taste of her lips and the way her body felt against his was the new meaning of perfection, he decided.

Moments later, they pulled away, cheeks flushed, smiles across their faces. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, he watched as she bit her lip slightly, feeling her lean in to his touch. "Goodnight, Penny."

"Goodnight, Leonard."


	7. Parties and Plans

**A/N - Hello and a Happy New Year! :) This should have been updated yesterday, but 'Manage Stories' wasn't working (I uploaded something else to make up for it) - however it seems to be working today. Thanks for the feedback so far, always useful to see what people think, keep it coming! Hope you enjoy, and happy Tuesday :) **

* * *

Pausing his game of _Grand Theft Auto_, Leonard raised a brow as he looked down at his phone to see Penny's name across his screen. Picking it up, he said answered with a questioning "hello?" - she was at a party, and was supposed to be staying over with her friends; why was she calling him?

"Leonard! Hello! Hey! Hi!" Penny shouted down the phone, over the music thumping through the house she was in, the ringing in her ears causing her to be even louder. "Wassup?"

"Are you okay? How's the party?" Leonard asked, concern filling his voice.

"Yeah, it's good. Well, kind of." Penny hiccoughed, pausing as she swayed slightly, frowning to herself. "Leonard, can you come get me please?"

"Uh, yeah, sure... you sure you're okay?"

"I'm great!" Penny grinned, leaning back against the wall to steady herself. "I am, mostly, I promise, but I wanna go home."

"Okay, good. Alright. Umm, where do you need picking up from?"

"My friends house… uh, hold on, stay on the phone!" Penny held the phone to her chest as she staggered out of the room and into the kitchen, where she had left Kim a few minutes ago. "Kim, where are we? What's the address?" Concentrating, she repeated Kim's words to Leonard enthusiastically, and he said he'd be there soon. Thanking him profusely, she hung up and then grinned at Kim, swaying on the spot. "Leonard is coming to get me!"

"That's good then." Kim patted Penny's arm, before a smirk came over her face. "Ooh, does that mean we get to meet him?"

"Nuh-uh!" Penny shook her head. "You already meeted him when he played chest with Dave Under-your-hill!"

"_Chess_, not chest. And it's just _Underhill_, alright!" Kim smirked, her words slurring. "There was no chest playing with Leonard. But speaking of chest... we need to do something about yours."

"What? Why!" Penny exclaimed, clambering onto one of the bar stools, leaning onto the counter with her arms when she almost fell back off it.

"Just because he's a nerd doesn't mean he doesn't care about that kind of stuff." Kim tilted her head, peering drunkenly at Penny through one eye. "Okay, turn around."

"I'm going to need another… hmm, another wine before you do whatever you're going to do." Penny waved her hand to an open wine bottle. Kim pushed it across the table, and Penny took a long swig of it before slamming it back down and turning around. "Woo! Okay, work your magic, Queen of Slutty Outfits."

"Why thank you!" Kim scooted off her bar stool and shuffled towards Penny. "Okay... if we tighten these straps, ah, and these, that should work in your favour..." Stumbling to the side slightly, Kim giggled before returning to her task. "Oops! Okay, now turn back around."

"Anything?" Penny asked hopefully, suppressing another hiccough.

"Umm... pull your top down a little and your skirt up a bit."

Penny hopped off the stool and did as she was told, concentrating deeply. "Like this? Aw man, I should have worn the bra I wore on our date! The one Bridget got me! Ooh, or my Super Girl crop top!"

"Yes, you should have! Next time, next time." Kim shook her head. "It's a little better... oh, here!" Grabbing two of the shots she had been pouring before Penny came in, she threw them over the white crop top Penny was wearing. "Ta-dah!"

"What the hell, Kim!" Penny jumped back, bumping into the bar behind her, but not noticing. "Now it's all see-through! And cold!"

"Exactly." Kim winked.

"Oh God." Penny's eyes widened suddenly as a hand flew her mouth, heaving slightly, but she simply burped, and then giggled. "Phew!"

"Yeah, _don't _be sick on Leonard... so do I get to meet him now?"

As Penny rolled her eyes, a group of guys walked into the kitchen and stopped in the doorway, grinning as they eyed up Penny. "Holy crap, Penny is looking _fine!_"

"Ugh, get out!" Kim stumbled forwards, shoving the first one in the chest.

"We just wanted a couple more beers babe."

Stepping aside and holding out an arm to gesture to the kitchen counter being used as the bar, Kim raised her brows at the guy she had pushed. He went over to get a crate of beers, winked at Penny, and then left, pausing to leer at Kim, who shoved him in the back and shut the door again. "I'm not gonna deny them beer, it's a free country."

"I made out with one of those guys."

"What? When?" Kim rushed back over to Penny, tripping over her heels which she had abandoned earlier. "_Jesus _those really are _high _heels."

"_Ages _ago. But then I was sick."

"Oh, thank God, I thought you meant tonight."

"Obviously not tonight! Hello, I'm dating Leonard!"

"Hello, I'm aware of that! Wait, are you _dating_ dating? Oh, I'm so excited for you!"

"Umm, I think so, I hope so at least. I already told you we went on our date… oh, and we went for frozen yoghurt on… yesterday! We went yesterday. We're dairy-free frozen yoghurt buddies!"

"Aww, that is both lame and cute at the same time. Speak of the devil." Kim pointed a finger at Penny's phone, which was ringing on the bar.

"Ooh! Yay! He must be here!" Penny hiccoughed once more before picking the phone up and answering it. "Hello there!"

He couldn't help but chuckle at her greeting. "Hello there to you too. I'm just outside."

"Okay, I'll be out in a bit! Bye sweetie!" Hanging up her phone, Penny looked at Kim. "Where's my bag?"

"In that pile over there." Kim gestured to where the girls bags were piled up on the table by the window.

"Oh yeah... mines the pink one!" Penny walked over, staggering slightly in her heels. Pushing through the various overnight bags, she pulled hers out and hooked it over her shoulder, dropping her phone into the front pocket of the bag. "Okay, I'm going! Leonard is a-waiting!"

"I'm coming with you."

"Shouldn't you be making out in a corner somewhere with Dave?"

"It's fine, he was being sick in a toilet earlier. We were meant to get shots for the girls, remember?"

"Oh yeah... too bad." Penny shrugged. "I got shots on my top for Leonard instead. Ugh, fine, you can come, but only 'cause I don't think I can walk all the way out there by myself without falling."

"_Yes_!" Kim fist pumped the air, before Penny grabbed onto her arm and they left the kitchen.

Passing through the corridor, they ignored whichever guys called at them, stopping for Penny to say goodbye to their friends, who were now playing a drinking game in the front room. Stepping outside, Penny's eyes lit up when she saw Leonard's car outside. Kim giggled when she turned around and noticed the girls looking out of the front window, before following Penny down the driveway.

"Hey Leonard!" Penny dropped her bag and threw her arms around him as he got out of the car. "I've said hey to you a lot tonight, I think." To his surprise, she planted a sloppy kiss on his lips before pulling back proudly. "I don't like to go a whole party without kissing someone. Anyway, this is Kim." Penny turned her head slightly for Leonard to do the same.

"Oh, yeah, hey, we've met." Leonard nodded, amused but slightly uncomfortable in this unfamiliar situation, and not sure how to react to Penny's kiss.

"We sure have." Kim smirked, patting Leonard's arm. "You really are one sexy nerd, huh?"

"Kim!" Penny scowled at her friend, before turning back to Leonard and pouting. "You better not like her more than me. That is a _crappy _thing to do."

"It's okay, I don't... she just knows that guy Dave Underhill."

"Yeah, she _knows _him." Penny wiggled her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I know." Leonard nodded. "He doesn't shut up about it when we play chess."

"That's just how good I am." Kim shrugged, staggering to the side a little. "Imma leave you guys alone now. Don't want to interrupt anything." With a cackle, she walked back up to the house.

Awkwardly, Leonard watched to make sure Kim got back inside safely, before turning back to Penny. "Shall we get you home then?"

"Mm-hmm." Penny nodded, suppressing a hiccough in case it turned out to be more.

As he pulled away to guide her over to the passenger seat, Leonard raised a brow and felt his heart rate increase as he noticed her damp top. "Uh, what happened to your top?"

"You like it?" Penny grinned, leaning against his car.

"Umm..." He stuttered slightly. He wanted to say yes, but he also wasn't sure if that was the right answer. Yes, he liked the way her top was practically see-through from whatever had been spilt on it and how it clung to her chest. But was he supposed to tell her that?

"I did it for you." Gasping, she hit her hand to her forehead. "Oh, balls, I wasn't supposed to tell you that! It was Kim's idea!"

"Uh... what?" His eyes were flitting between hers and her top, only partially involuntarily.

"Obviously it worked though, I see you looking." Penny giggled, placing her hands on her hips.

"Yeah... I mean, what, no!" Leonard shook his head quickly, his face flushing red. "Look, we need to get you home."

"Uh-huh." Penny nodded.

Taking hold of her arm, he opened the door and sat her down, before placing her bag by her feet. He walked around to his side again and saw that she had managed to do up her seatbelt. Doing up his own, he started the car and turned to her. "Ready?"

"Yeah! Road trip!"

"I wouldn't call the journey to your house a road trip, it's not far." Leonard pointed out as he moved off. "How was the party?"

"Good! We did some karaoke!"

"That sounds good." He paused for a moment, his mind wandering back to his initial concern about her calling him and being asked to be taken home. As she hummed what he guessed had been one of her karaoke songs, he thought about how to ask her without sounding too intrusive. Nothing came to mind, so he just went for the simplest way. "Are you sure you're okay? I thought you were staying over?"

She went quiet, dropping her head to the side. "I'm okay," she said after a while, "it's just that someone turned up who I don't feel like seeing, that's all."

"Okay." He nodded his understanding, not wanting to push her further if she didn't want to tell him more.

"Is it okay that I called you?" Penny sat up suddenly, her eyes wide. "Did I wake you up?"

"No, no, it's fine, I was just playing some video games." He assured her.

"Okay, good." Penny relaxed again, leaning back in the seat and stretching her feet out. "Hmm, I could fall asleep right here."

"Well, I'm glad you're comfortable, but we're almost back at yours now."

"Maybe if I fall asleep you'll carry me inside." Penny wiggled her eyebrows at him, the effect lost due to her smudged make up and drunkenly crossed eyes. "Ooh, my sister isn't even here to tell me off!"

"I'm sure that's, umm, great, but... I think you should perhaps stay awake." He was finally realizing that the 'popular' guys in his classes had been right - just because he was a genius academically, it didn't mean he was a genius at _everything_. Such as what to do when someone was drunk, in your car, and you were supposed to take them home. And when their top was soaking wet to the point it was see through.

"Alright then, you're the boss." Penny tilted her head back. "Hey, you should come to the next party with me."

"Why? I've never really been to one of those parties before."

"Because then we could be one of those couples who just make out in the corner." Penny giggled.

"I..." But further words failed to leave his mouth. How was he supposed to know if she was being serious or if it was just the alcohol speaking? Would she remember that she'd said this tomorrow morning? As she calmed down and began humming quietly again (and out of tune, he couldn't help but notice) he told himself to calm down. He was overthinking this. It was just making out, and she was drunk, it didn't even matter. It was probably just a joke. There was no need to overthink this. At least that's what he told himself the rest of the short journey back to Penny's house, despite the battle in his mind between whether she was being genuine or just making a joke.

Once they hit the road leading to Penny's house, she perked up slightly, although by now her words were slurring together from a combination of tiredness and drink. "Ah, you got me home."

"Of course I did," he replied, pulling up by the side of the road. "Here, undo your seatbelt, I'll help you out." Quickly, he shut off the engine and got out of the car, rushing round to her side. As he opened her door, she finally managed to click the seatbelt release button hard enough for it to do its job. "Hold onto my hands while you get out so you don't fall over." She took his hands eagerly, and she managed to pull herself up with his help.

"My keys are in my bag," she mumbled, gesturing behind her with one bag.

"Okay, wait here, I'll get them."

As he leaned over to pick her bag up, she grinned. "Hey, your tushy is cute."

He almost hit his head on the door frame standing back up. "Oh, uh, thanks." He shut the door and locked his car, before turning to her. "Umm, I have to go through your bag to get your keys, is that okay?"

"Uh-huh, sure." Penny nodded, grabbing onto his arm with one hand to steady herself.

Unzipping her bag, he went for the small inside pocket which seemed the most logical place for her keys to be. To his delight, they were there, along with a lip gloss and ten dollar bill. As he fished the keys out, he couldn't help but notice her underwear, thrown in unceremoniously on top of a matching set of neatly folded pajamas, next to a pair of blue jeans and a pink sweater - which he assumed she was intending to wear the next day. He quickly zipped the bag up, not forgetting the pink bra and panties. _Well, just because I'm a nerd doesn't mean I don't notice these things too_, he reasoned with himself.

"Leonard?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't feel good."

_Oh God, now what do I do_? A sudden realization hit him that he was probably going to have to help her get inside and get to bed. He wondered if her parents were up. It probably wasn't the best way to meet them, and he wasn't sure Penny wanted her parents to see her like this, but it would probably be the safest thing. "Okay... okay, I'll take you inside and you tell me where the kitchen is, and we'll get you some water."

"Mm'kay."

Carefully and slowly, he walked her up the driveway, wishing she wasn't wearing heels so she would stop stumbling so often. Quietly, he unlocked the front door, and they stepped into her house. The only room he'd been in was the front room, so once he'd closed the door he looked to her for help.

"End of the hall," she muttered, squinting as she switched on the hallway light.

Again, they walked quietly, and it felt like it took an hour to get her down the hallway and into the kitchen. She tripped three times, each time bringing a hand to her mouth to hold back a burst of giggles. Switching on the light quickly, he watched as she fell onto one of the bar stools and kicked off her heels. He found a few clean glasses by the sink on a dish dryer, and filled it up with cold water before passing it to her. She eagerly accepted, downing the water quickly.

"Better?"

"Ugh, that was good."

"I'll get you some more."

He turned around to refill her glass, and always jumped out of his skin when he noticed another woman standing in the kitchen doorway. Clad in a deep purple robe, a pair of worn burgundy slippers and her blonde hair up in a messy bun, he stood with the glass in his hand, mouth slightly agape.

"I'm so sorry sweetheart, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Meryl, Penny's mother." She held her hand out to him.

"Umm, yeah, that's okay." Leonard placed the glass down and shook her hand. "I'm, uh, I'm Leonard. It's… it's nice to meet you."

"This is the guy I'm going out with!" Penny whispered loudly to her mother.

"Yes, sweetheart, I know." Meryl nodded, catching the blush on Leonard's face. "Nice to meet you too, love. Thank you for bringing her home. Kim called me to tell me - well, she yelled, actually - that Penny was coming home. I figured she'd need help getting to bed."

"That's alright." Leonard thanked the Gods he didn't even believe in that this situation was going to end up less awkward and a lot easier than he had thought it might.

"I can't believe this is how my mom is meeting my boyfriend." Penny shook her head, pulling the glass of water towards her.

"It's fine, a lot better than the way I met her sisters first boyfriend." Meryl shrugged at him. "I should let you get home. Again, thank you for taking her home, and it's nice to meet you, Leonard."

"Yeah, umm, sure, no problem. Oh, and here are her keys." Leonard fished them out of his pocket from where he'd put them so he could have his other hand free. "Her bag is just in the hall."

"Thanks, sweetheart. I'll see you out." Meryl offered. "Penny, stay here and drink your water while I see Leonard out to his car."

"Oh, it's okay, you don't have to do that." Leonard said shyly.

"I'll worry otherwise if I don't see that you've driven off safely." Meryl insisted kindly.

"Umm, okay then. Thanks." He smiled meekly before turning to Penny. "Bye, Penny. I'll see you in school tomorrow. Hope you feel okay in the morning."

"See you tomorrow! Bye, sweetie!" Penny threw her arms around his neck, planting her lips on his for a few seconds before releasing him. "Thanks for getting me!"

More than a little stunned, he tried to ignore Meryl's smirk and raised brows as he awkwardly patted Penny's leg before making his way back down the hall. He said goodbye to her mother, before going down the path and back to his car. True to her word, she stood just outside the front door until he had disappeared from her view.

* * *

"Hey, you," Penny said quietly as she approached Leonard, where he was waiting for her to walk home from school. Aside from a text in the morning to say thank you, and then a text over lunch to make sure they were still going home together, she hadn't spoken to him yet.

"Hey," he smiled at her, "how's your head after last night?"

"Better now, it was worse in the morning." Penny sighed. "I dunno why we decided Thursday was a good day to have a party."

"Well, at least you don't look as bad as some of the girls in my classes." Leonard chuckled.

"Ugh, yeah, well, they were there the whole night. I would have been the same." Penny rolled her eyes, opting to steer the subject away from her having gone home slightly. "Anyway, thanks for taking me home last night. And... I'm sorry about the making out comment and stuff. I was mostly joking but it _would_ make for a pretty great party." She grinned at him with her tongue between her teeth.

"Oh, uh, sure." Leonard raised a brow, unsure of what to make of her statement. He gestured toward the gates. "Umm, shall we?"

"Guess who got an A on the writing assignment she handed in two weeks ago?" Penny announced proudly once they were out of the gates, her hands in the pockets of her black jacket, which she had buttoned up to the top.

"Well done!" Leonard grinned, stopping briefly to hug her.

"Aw, thank you."

Having taken her hands out of her pockets to reciprocate his hug, she decided to leave them out despite the slight cold that was getting to her fingertips. Instead, as they continued walking, she looked quickly at his hand and then straight ahead of her, biting on her lip. Slowly, she inched her hand closer to his, catching his fingers with her own. To her delight, he linked their fingers, and they both gave short, nervous giggles as they looked up at each other. She had almost been expecting him to pull his hand away and apologize for it being in the way, or for herself to change her mind and just put her hands back in her pockets. But this was better, by far. Like most things with Leonard, she wasn't sure why this felt like such a big deal to her. She'd held hands with guys before, walking through the crowded school hallways, and it had felt like nothing. Now, with just a few people heading in the same direction, and being incredibly aware that it was _Leonard_, she had felt... nervous. Almost scared that he wouldn't take her hand.

"Your hands are cold," Leonard said after a while.

"Yeah," Penny put her other hand back in her pocket, "it doesn't help that only the cold water is running in the girls bathrooms and it's getting colder outside already."

"That sucks. The cold is starting to bite a bit," he agreed. "Perhaps you should consider wearing gloves."

"They're all covered in muck from helping Dad with the cars and going to the stables. And I lost my good ones!" Penny frowned. "They were leather with this little flower pattern on the wrist bit."

"Okay, so we'll add gloves to your shopping list. A shawl and some gloves," Leonard chuckled. As she smiled at him and nodded, his heart started to beat a little faster as he worked up the courage to ask her his next question. "How about, umm, how about we go shopping this weekend? You know, if you're free, that is."

"Ooh, yeah, I'd love that!" Penny grinned excitedly.

He hadn't expected her to be so eagerly on board with this - while he knew she loved shopping, he wasn't sure if she would actually want to go with him. "Oh, okay, cool."

"What day is good for you? I have a riding lesson tomorrow morning but that's pretty much it."

"We're going over to Raj's to play-" he stopped, not wanting to say 'Mystic Warlords of Ka'a' because it sounded stupid in his head, "- a game on Sunday afternoon. But I can cancel that if you're going to be too tired from your lesson tomorrow afternoon to go shopping."

"No, tomorrow afternoon would be perfect! I'll already have been out of bed for a while so I'll be all awake and ready for the day."

"Okay, that sounds good then." Leonard wondered if this counted as a date. Probably not, he decided. But while they were making plans, he decided they might as well, while she was all happy and he still had some adrenaline from simply asking her about going shopping. "So, uh, do you want to... to go for a movie and go for dinner afterwards?"

"Ah, like a date?" Penny smirked. As much as she had always loved being the one to make a move on guys, it was a thousand times better when it was the guy who done it, and a million times better when it was Leonard. "Absolutely."

_Absolutely is a very definite word, _Leonard thought_. Maybe I need to relax a little about this, she hasn't been shooting you down and she wants to spend time with you. This isn't as scary as you keep anticipating it to be. _"Great." He smiled at her.

"I'll let you know tomorrow when I'm ready, is that okay? It'll be around midday but I don't want to keep you waiting."

"Yeah, of course, that's fine."

For a moment they walked in silence, comfortable in each others company. Eventually, Penny turned to him again. "Listen, I know this might be weird since we're... would it be weird if you still helped me study?"

"What? No! Of course not! What do you need help with?"

_Thank God. _"Umm, Science. You know, Chemistry, Biology and Physics. I'm mostly okay with Biology, just a few things. And the new stuff in Math. It just gets more and more complicated and I don't want to fall behind."

"Yeah, sure," he nodded, "that's okay with me. We can do that in the library after school again, you seem to be at your most... _studious _there."

Penny giggled. "Studious. But yeah, that works for me! Thanks, Leonard."

"Any time."

It was all to soon that they had reached the parting again, and they had to stop walking. Though this time they had the perk of knowing they would be seeing each other again tomorrow.

"At least I'm seeing you tomorrow," Penny voiced aloud.

He grinned at this. "Yeah."

"Are you not excited to see me tomorrow too?" Penny teased, tapping his chest lightly.

"Of course I am!"

"Okay, good. Just checking." Penny's eyes twinkled up at him.

As always, they leaned in for their hug. Only this time, as they pulled away, where they would normally have simply let go, they kissed instead, both of them having made the decision to do so without the other knowing. Just like they always did, the butterflies fluttered in her stomach once more. Feeling slightly braver, Leonard wrapped his arms around her waist so his hands rested on the small of her back. Her own came around his neck like they had before. Both their plans of this just being a quick goodbye kiss, like it had been for the last couple of days, were slowly falling out the window.

That was, until they heard a car horn beeping and a familiar voice flowing through a car window. "Ooh, PDA alert!" Kim giggled out the window. Leonard and Penny blushed, as they pulled apart to turn and look at her. "Have fun, kids, but you might want to consider taking things inside!" Cackling to herself, Kim drove away again.

Penny rolled her eyes. "As if she can talk about PDA."

"Yeah, I know." Leonard shook his head.

She giggled for a moment, before biting her lip again. "Well, that was nice until we got interrupted. I'll see you tomorrow, then, Leonard."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

What with the kiss and their upcoming shopping trip and date, they both parted ways with smiles on their faces.


	8. Little Changes

"Alright, I'm off in a bit." Penny said, walking into the living room where her parents were drinking coffee and watching what looked to be a fairly uninteresting quiz show. She perched on the edge of the couch, leaning forwards to grab a chocolate from the assortment box on the coffee table. "Just gonna have a little treat while I wait."

"Where are you going?" Meryl asked, turning the volume down slightly.

"Oh, just shopping." Penny shrugged.

"What time will you be back?"

"Umm... uh, a little late, so, you know, you don't have to wait up for me." Penny tried to dismiss this and looked out of the window briefly before turning her attention back to the television. "So, what're you guys watching?"

"A _little late_?" Wyatt inquired, leaning forwards in his armchair. "Who're you going with?"

"Yeah. Um, so really, what's this show about? It's like, a quiz, right?"

"Hold on." Meryl held up a finger, placing her coffee mug on the table. "You're going shopping with Leonard and then probably having dinner and stuff later." She raised her brows and smiled knowingly when Penny looked up at her. "Why didn't you tell us that in the first place?"

"Whatever it is you're wearing, you need to change, you're not pulling the same wool over my eyes that Bridget did by covering up with a jacket." Wyatt sat back in his chair again, gesturing to the door.

Rolling her eyes, Penny stood up, and pointed to her father. "_That _is why I didn't tell you." As she got to the door, she scowled at her parents. "And just so you know, the top I'm wearing is almost not as bad as what she would wear anyway."

As Penny stomped down the hallway, Meryl chuckled. "At least she had the sense to go get changed."

"I don't know why she bothers arguing that she's nothing like her sister," Wyatt shook his head.

A few minutes later, Penny stomped back into the room, holding her jacket open, showing her parents the sweater she had put on. "There, happy?"

"All you did was put a sweater on over the original top, but yes, better." Meryl approved.

"Ugh." Penny rolled her eyes as she did her jacket back up. As she was about to sit down, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and grinned as she saw the text. "Well, Leonard's here, see ya!"

Before her parents could say another word, she had grabbed her handbag from the hallway and was out of the house.

* * *

"Here, let me take those." Leonard offered, as Penny went to take her shopping bags out of the boot of his car. There wasn't much, but he felt it was a gentlemanly thing to do.

"Oh, thanks," Penny stepped back slightly to allow him to get to the bags.

Taking the bags in one hand, he shut the boot and locked his car. They walked up the driveway together, Penny's arm linked with his, like it had been almost the whole day. Outside her front door, the nightlight flickered on as it picked up motion. He placed the bags down on the doormat, before turning to her.

"This was really great," Penny smiled up at him, her hands in her pockets gain, "shopping and a date, that's a pretty perfect day. Thank you."

"Aw, you're welcome," Leonard smiled back, glad that she had enjoyed herself and his nerves calming down considerably, "I had a great time too."

Shifting her weight from one foot to the other with nerves, Penny bit her lip. "Umm, could you wait here just... one second?" She held up a finger and looked at him questioningly.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he gave a small nod.

Unlocking the front door quietly, Penny picked up the bags and placed them inside. She turned to Leonard and held a finger up again, before quickly stepping inside, leaving the door open.

Inside, Penny silently padded down the hallway to see if any of the lights were on. Turning right, she continued down the hallway that continued through the rest of the house. Stopping outside her parents room, she paused, and her assumption that they were asleep was confirmed by the snores being emitted from the door that was always left slightly ajar on most nights. Quickly, she tiptoed right to the end of the long hallway, stopping outside her room and quickly unbuttoning her jacket. Hastily pulling off the sweater she'd put on earlier, she dropped it to the floor outside her door and pulled her jacket back on, leaving the top two buttons unfastened. Yes, she'd be colder, and if she was being honest it didn't really make a visual difference, but hopefully he would notice and she had even more of an excuse to have her body so close to his - she didn't _want_ to be cold, after all. Running back down through the house on her tiptoes, she grinned at Leonard once she had stepped back outside, closing the door behind her.

"Come with me," she said, holding out her hand.

Without asking where they were going or why, he took her hand. She led him round the side of her house, turning left and continuing again. He noticed her looking into all the windows they went past, and he guessed she was checking to see if her parents were awake. Eventually they stopped, and he raised a brow at her. "Where are we?"

"Well, technically, this is our back yard." Penny gestured behind him, pausing briefly as he turned his head to take in the vast amount of space she was referring to, noticing the chickens in the distance that she had mentioned before. "But, more specifically, we're right outside my bedroom." Her eyes widened and cheeks flushed as she realized how that sounded, and the slightly startled expression that had fallen across his face. "Oh, God, that's not... sorry, I just... I meant, we have a little more privacy here than on my doorstep."

"Well, except for the chickens," Leonard chuckled nervously. Privacy for what? Not that that was a _bad _thing, he just hadn't expected to be in a situation where they would need privacy. But it was good; this was a good sign, as far as he knew.

"Yeah... but, you know, they're chickens, and they can't see us all the way down here, so as long as they stay quiet then it's all good." Penny leaned back slightly against the wall, only just realizing how tired her legs were from this morning and then from all the walking they had been doing. "Concluding this mini-tour, if you look to the right, _way _up the hill, that's where the farm is."

Squinting, Leonard nodded. "Ah, yeah, I see it." He looked up, observing the sky. "This would be a really great place for a telescope. All the houses are single story, so it's very easy to find a good position to make observations."

"Yeah..." Penny raised a brow, "one of the perks of living up here. Telescope freedom."

"Sorry," Leonard shrugged awkwardly.

"It's okay," Penny giggled.

Looking back down with a shy smile, he suddenly noticed that her coat was more open at the top than it had been earlier. And hadn't she been wearing a sweater earlier too? Not that he was complaining - he absolutely wasn't. Trying to avert his eyes, he looked back around him. "So you've lived here your whole life?"

"Uh-huh," Penny nodded enthusiastically now, "grew up here... and still growing up, apparently. I remember when I was seven, I tried to climb out my window. I fell out and cried because I got all mud in my mouth."

"Why were you trying to climb out the window?" Leonard laughed.

"We were playing hide and seek and I figured it wasn't cheating if I went out through the window to hide outside." Penny explained. "I've never tried it since. Bridge and Scott are quite the masters of window-climbing though. They've even figured out how to open them from the outside and get in. Can't believe they've never been caught by my parents. And that you can get in from the outside."

"Uh, well, the windows open outwards, and I suppose if you leave them open just a tiny bit, you can pry it open." Leonard gestured to Penny's window.

"Oh," Penny turned to look at her window briefly. "Okay, well I guess that's that mystery solved."

"Yeah," he nodded, his eyes moving from the window, back to her face, and briefly to her open jacket and sweater-less chest, then back up again. "Aren't you cold?"

"Just a little. It's okay." For a moment, she felt slightly stupid for having taken off her sweater and left her jacket open; she wasn't really going to gain that much from having done so. But at least he'd noticed, so it was worth it for that. It was beginning to dawn on her how stupid her sisters 'tips' were. But they seemed to work, so stupid or not, there was no harm in trying some of them.

"Come here," Leonard said softly, though it was he who stepped forward to put his arms around her.

Penny smiled as she wrapped her arms around him in return, resting her head on his shoulder. For a moment, they stayed like that, enjoying the closeness the embrace provided them with. The butterflies in her stomach were still there, but now they were less terrifying. His nerves and constant worry she would start withdrawing from what they had going was beginning to disappear, replaced by a feeling of comfort and contentedness.

After a moment, Penny looked up at him. "Thank you for today, Leonard."

Leaning up slightly, she placed her lips gently over his, relaxing slightly when he moved his own lips to kiss her properly. Slowly, she moved her arms up around his neck, and his came to hold her waist just a little tighter. They kissed like this for a while; getting to know the feel of the others lips gently over their own, and how it began to form a desire for more. After a moment, Leonard brought a hand up to cup her jaw, and they simultaneously took a small step back so her back was against the wall again. Their desires were granted; their lips locked for longer, each kiss was more confident than its predecessor. Eventually, his hand moved up into her hair, and that did it for Penny. Butterflies urging her on, she lightly moved her tongue along his lower lip. Leonard gladly accepted, more than happily reciprocating. Her fingers gripped at his curls as a heat that began at her core spread through her body, and her lips began to move with more hunger. As one of her hands ran down his arm, and back up again, squeezing at his bicep, he moved his own from her waist gently to rest over her bottom.

"Mmmh."

Penny stopped what she was doing and blinked rapidly as she registered the small moan she had just emitted from the back of her throat. Face flushed and heart racing, she bit her lip as she looked up at him. The half-amused, half-smug look on his face caused her to blush further.

"Well, I'm definitely not cold anymore," Penny giggled, clearing her throat.

"Hmm," Leonard chuckled, "that's good at least."

"Yeah." She smiled up at him.

"I guess this is a good time to say goodnight."

"Probably a good idea," Penny agreed.

Taking his hand, she led them slowly back round to the front of the house, chewing on her lip. They went down the driveway, stopping at his car.

"I really enjoyed today," Leonard smiled at her, gently swinging their hands. Despite his growing confidence, and the ease he was beginning to feel that was replacing the initial fear from the week before, he was still constantly astonished and impressed that she was _actually _happy, with him. He'd asked her out and made their plans, and they always walked home together, and they'd text when they were home - little things, like complaining about their work or relaying whatever stupid or funny things their friends were saying - and she never seemed bored of his company. When he went to kiss her, she never pulled away. Earlier at the cinema, she'd snuggled into him when he'd put his arm around her, and shared a kiss after an awkward giggle when a make-out scene came on in the movie. And tonight, she'd been the one to take him to a more 'private' space, and take off her sweater and initiate the kiss. _She _was the one who had let out that moan, not him, which he was impressed by because he thought he'd be the first one to do something like that. It was a totally new experience and he wondered how long it would take before he didn't over think all of these things so much.

"Me too."

Leaning in, he gave her a light kiss on the lips. "Goodnight, Penny."

"Night, Leonard." Penny tilted her head slightly, smiling sweetly as she let go of his hand. "I'll see you on Monday."

"Yeah, see you on Monday."

She watched him get into his car, before walking back up the drive to her doorstep and taking out her key. With a final wave, he started his car and she stepped inside.

* * *

Penny sat at her desk, legs folded beneath her for warmth. Opening up Facebook, she immediately clicked on her messages, frowning slightly when she saw _Bernadette Rostenkowski _as the sender, before remembering she was her partner for Biology. Clicking on the message, she read through it quickly.

_Hi Penny, if you want I'll do the written work for the assignment, and in class you can help me with some bits of the practical so Miss Towns sees you doing something, and you can still get a good grade. :) _

Rubbing her hand against her forehead, Penny felt a surge of guilt course through her. She did have a habit of making whoever her partner was do all the work for her, pretending to join in during class so the teacher would think she was participating - and she'd had Bernadette as her partner before, who clearly remembered the previous deal. But now, it felt... wrong. Not only had she been beginning to put in a bit more work during lessons, but if Leonard had shown her anything it was that forcing the smart people to do all the work _really _wasn't fair. Why should she, Penny, be getting credit for the work of somebody else who had spent their time and effort on the work? Hell, why did they _let _people like her do that? Was she really that intimidating? She thought of how terrified Leonard had looked when he'd realized she was a cheerleader and frowned. Okay, perhaps that was their general reputation, but she knew a few of her friends who were a lot worse. She wondered if people did this sort of stuff to Leonard too... she'd have to try and talk to her friends. But for now, she could make one small change, at least.

_Hey, don't worry about that. We can meet up during lunch some time this week and divide up the workload and organize when to put it together :) x_

Okay, that wasn't so bad. The one thing she was worried about was her input bringing down Bernadette's grade, but she hoped that if she really put the effort in she could get somewhere with this. As she went back to the Messages page, she scrolled down to find her last messages with Jamie McKenna. If she was going to take things seriously, she might as well do it properly and organize her tapped out a quick message asking when practice was, feeling impressed as she hit back again, she noticed the little green circle indicating Kim was online, and grinned. _Finally_, somebody to share her excitement with whom she knew wouldn't laugh at her, or put down because it was Leonard she was talking about.

_Guess who had a kind-of make-out sesh in my back garden last night? :D _

Hitting send, as she waited for Kim to reply, Penny heard a knock at her door followed by the sound of her door being opened. Panicking, she slammed her laptop screen shut. Her parents were the only ones home and she definitely didn't want them to see whatever conversation she was about to have with Kim.

"What're you trying to hide from me?" Wyatt raised his brows at Penny as she turned around in her chair.

"Nothing, you just startled me!" Penny said quickly. "I was just organizing when to meet Bernadette for the Biology assignment."

Her father looked at her suspiciously for a moment, before sighing. "Alright. Come on, we've got Martin's tractor to fix."

"Okay," Penny nodded at her father, "I'll be out in a bit, I'm just going to change into some old jeans."

"Be quick. I'll get started."

Waiting until her father had shut the door behind him, Penny quickly re-opened her laptop and tapped her password in, Facebook instantly showing up with a new message from Kim.

_Umm deets! _

Giggling slightly to herself, Penny quickly tapped out a message in reply.

_His hand was on my ass and thats enough details for you nosy! Ill fill you in tomorrow I guess you'll get it out of me! Gotta go help dad with tractor stuff, Sunday sucks compared to yesterday xxx_

* * *

"Okay, hold up." Howard put down his controller. "So you were _seriously _in the back garden of her house... kissing?"

"Yup." Leonard nodded, looking up from his phone, where Penny had just texted him a photo of the tractor she had been helping her father fix.

"With _tongue_?" Howard clarified.

"Yup."

"And you're like... properly seeing each other and dating?"

"The fact that they are spending frequent time together and going on dates would suggest that that is in fact the case." Sheldon stated bluntly. "Now can we get on with the game?"

Ignoring Sheldon, Howard furrowed his brow. "How the hell did you manage that?"

"We have already been over this, he is a slightly taller, less repulsive human being than you are." Sheldon shook his head in annoyance.

"He also probably didn't use one of your lame pick-up lines," Raj added.

"Well do you think she could, you know, set me up with someone?" Howard asked, sounding desperate but not even caring.

"Umm..." Leonard frowned. He didn't want to say no to Howard, but at the same time he didn't want to ask Penny to do this, because he already knew none of her friends would say yes. That, and the fact that he wasn't sure they were even at the point in their relationship where he could ask her to set his friends up. But he could at least try mentioning it subtly. "I'll see what I can do but I can't make any promises."

"_Yes_!" Howard grinned.

"This is ridiculous." Sheldon groaned. "We are here for an afternoon of games and discussing the latest episodes of our favorite TV shows, not to chin-wag about girls."

"You're just jealous because you _have _no girl to chin-wag about."

"Uh, dude, neither do you," Raj pointed out to Howard.

"And neither do you," Leonard reminded Raj.

"I'll have you know, me and this girl Lucy in my art class are really beginning to hit it off." Raj huffed. "Just because I struggle to talk to them doesn't mean I can't make an effort and get somewhere."

"I have the best idea." Howard grinned as he stood up.

"_Now_? We are already twenty-eight minutes behind gaming schedule, Wolowitz, I suggest you sit back down before this turns into a half hour and your mother tells you off for being home late again."

"That only happened once!" Howard protested. "Anyway, hear me out. Since all this talk of the ladies pisses Sheldon off so much, I say we try and find him one."

"What?" Leonard laughed. "I have to admit, that's kinda funny."

"I'm serious!"

"Well the idea of that is just complete - as my mother would say - cockamamie. And then she would apologize to Jesus for her language... but I'm not sure that is a necessary measure."

"You know, this _could _be fun." Raj stood up now too, nodding slowly. "Finding Sheldon Cooper a _girl_."

"Good luck with that." Sheldon folded his arms stubbornly. "But alright, here's a preposition for your insane idea. If you manage to find somebody suitable, I promise to withdraw my Infinite Sheldon card from every game I use it in."

"Ooh... it's a deal! What do you say we do this?" Howard turned to Raj excitedly.

"I'm in!" Raj high-fived Howard's hand. "What about you, Leonard?"

"Oh, umm, no thank you." Leonard shook his head. "If you find someone then great, but I don't see reason for my involvement here."

"Thank you, Leonard." Sheldon said, sincerely. "This is why you are my best friend."


	9. Grades and Relationships

Sat at the table she had deemed 'hers' in the library, Penny began to put her notebook back into her bag. Opposite her, Bernadette Rostenkowski was doing the same. Both girls had smiles on her faces, and the nervous, terrified look on Bernadette's face that she'd worn coming in, had disappeared.

"Hey, so, I have a question for you." Penny said, closing her bag and pulling out her phone from her jacket pocket.

"Yeah?" Bernadette looked up at her nervously.

"My boyfriend told me one of his friends wanted to be set up, and I just thought... you'd probably be a better match than anybody else I know."

"I don't know," Bernadette bit her lip, "I'm not sure he'll be my type."

"What?" Penny scrunched her face up in confusion for a moment before it clicked in her mind. "Oh! No, not _those _guys. I'm talking about Howard Wolowitz. Do you know him?"

"I know _of _him, he's - wait, why is _your _boyfriend friends with Howard Wolowitz?" Now it was Bernadette's turn to be confused. As far as she was aware, none of the guys Penny knew would ever be _friends _with somebody like Howard.

"Honestly, I ask myself that question like, _all _the time."

"I'm a little confused. Who even _is _your boyfriend?"

"Leonard Hofstadter." Penny liked how certain that sounded. She wasn't even sure if they were there yet, and she had never been one to rush into calling somebody her 'boyfriend' - but with Leonard it just felt natural to say it, and it didn't feel terrifying to be placing herself as somebody's 'girlfriend'.

"You and _Leonard Hofstadter_?" Bernadette raised her brows in surprise. "Wow, who'd have thought!"

"What do you mean?" Penny asked, slightly defensively, folding her arms over her chest.

"Well, you know, he's... and you're... never mind," Bernadette sighed, backing down, not wanting to cause an argument.

"Either you mean that he's smart and it's unimaginable that he would date someone like me, or you mean that you expect me to think just because I'm a cheerleader that he's not good enough or too nerdy for me." Penny frowned, peering down her nose at Bernadette. "Whichever one it is, you're wrong. And I'm not going to argue with you over this because I told myself I need to stop doing that."

"Alright." Bernadette chewed on her lip. She didn't want to get into an argument either, and if Penny was getting defensive over her relationship with Leonard, then perhaps she was wrong in questioning it. "I'm sorry. So, umm, it's Howard Wolowitz, right?"

"Yes," Penny nodded, happy to move on.

Almost wanting to say 'he's a bit… weird and creepy', but deciding that perhaps after her judgment of Leonard and Penny that would seem a bit hypocritical, Bernadette simply nodded in return. "Alright, I'll do it."

"You will? Okay, great." Penny grinned. Although she didn't particularly know either of them very well, it was exciting helping set them up. "I have your number now, I'll get Leonard to pass it on to Howard and you guys can arrange something."

"Sure." Bernadette was impressed with herself. A popular girl had her number and wasn't forcing her to do all of the work, and she'd just been set up for a date. Not a bad day at all.

"Awesome. I have to go get this book out and then get to class. I'll see you on Sunday then and we can get started on this project. I'll try get at least the first part done by then." Penny said, as she began to stand up, swinging her bag onto her shoulder.

* * *

Unable to help the slight wave of annoyance that she was no longer sitting alone like she had intended to, Penny smiled politely as Valerie sat down next to her. She'd hoped sitting in the middle row at the corner desk would mean not being disturbed by her friends during Math class, since they usually sat at the back, but apparently not.

"Hey!" Valerie grinned, pulling out her books. "Why're you sitting all the way over here?" When Penny simply shrugged, she continued on. "Are you going to Hannah's birthday party on Friday?"

"Yeah, probably," Penny nodded, "is her sister buying the drink again?"

"Umm, think so, I'll ask her next period to make sure." She placed her bag on the floor, before picking up her pen and tapping it against her notepad. "So how're things with you and _Leonard_ going?"

"Really great," Penny nodded, smiling with a slight blush.

"What's that blush for? What did you do?" Valerie smirked.

"Nothing! Seriously, nothing like that."

While she wanted to tease her and ask if she was sure, or if it was because Leonard was a nerd, Valerie knew that with Penny this wasn't the case, so quickly moved on. "Alright. So what's he like when he's not at school being all... smart and stuff? What do you guys do? Sit there reading Superman comics?"

"Just because he's smart and into nerdy things like comic books doesn't mean he's not like a normal person!" Penny chuckled slightly. "We do what everyone else does."

"Huh, I kind of imagine them like, eating dinner and reading their comic books at the same time. And playing card games in the mall and stuff. Making up jokes about equations. I dunno."

"Okay, he doesn't do that when we're out. But isn't that like when we read Vogue over dinner anyway?"

"Suppose so. I don't know what the do, do I? They're just there being smart and stuff, who knows? Who did you get for Biology, by the way? I got Ken. _Ken_! Of all people, I get the _one _guy who is less smart than me and thinks that just because we're partners that we're going to end up in bed together after Hannah's party. Uh, no thank you."

"That sucks, he's such an ass. I got Bernadette."

"Oh my God that's not fair, you literally have to do _no _work!" Valerie groaned.

Penny shook her head. "No, we've split it, half and half."

Studying Penny for a moment, Valerie sighed. "Alright, I guess if you're actually doing work then I can do it to."

Penny was about to agree that yes, she could, when their teacher walked in and sat at her desk, placing a stack of papers on the desk. Instantly, she could tell that those were the test papers that they had taken, and they were graded. Her heart began to race. She _needed _that grade to be good. Not just for herself, but for Leonard, because he had put in so much time helping her, and she wanted him to be proud.

"Alright, I have your tests marked from the other week."

Watching as she stood, Penny's eyes followed the teacher as she began to hand the tests back to the students.

"Overall I'm quite impressed, but some of you do need to pay more attention, or you'll be taking an extra class on Thursday afternoons."

_Please don't let that be me, _Penny thought. She watched as the teacher approached her desk, and placed her marked paper in front of her.

"Well done, Penny, that's quite an improvement."

Looking down at the paper on her desk, Penny felt her heart skip a beat and a rush of relief swoop through her body. _C_. A smile flickered her face. Miles better than the D-'s she had been receiving (she ignored the few F's she'd gotten). Not quite the A+ grades that she knew Leonard received, but still... a C. Plus. Which was only a little way away from a B. She had never been so excited to get a paper back and receive her grade.

* * *

"Leonard!"

Penny practically ran at him, a wide grin across her face, waving her paper in front of her. He chuckled at the sight; it was adorable how excited she looked.

"I got my math test back!"

"I'm guessing you did well?"

Holding out the papers to him, she bounced slightly on the spot, "see for yourself!"

Taking the paper, Leonard flipped it over so he could see the front, grinning instantly when he saw the C+ written in red on the front. "Oh my God, I'm so proud of you!"

"I know, right. And it's all thanks to _you_!" Leaning up, Penny threw her arms around him, planting a kiss on his lips. "Ah, I'm so happy! Thank you, Leonard."

Slightly in shock from the fact that she'd just kissed him, right there in plain sight of everybody in the grounds between the main school entrance, the car park, sports field and main school gates, Leonard blushed and chuckled nervously. "Oh, umm, yeah, you're welcome."

"I mean, I know it's nowhere _near_ as good as the grades you get," Penny began, taking the paper and shoving it into her bag, before linking her hand with his as they made their way towards the gates to go home, "but it's better than what I would normally get. And I really think I can get, you know, a B or something, if I work hard enough."

"Of course you can!" Leonard squeezed her hand gently. "You're already mostly there, that was only the first test you did after all that studying, you'll only get better at it as you continue and get consistently good grades."

"Think so?"

"Of course."

For a while, she simply turned her head and looked up at him as they walked, her lips curled into a soft smile. "You know, you're the first person who ever really believed in me that I could do this kinda stuff."

"Really?"

"Yes. Everyone kinda goes, okay, but you won't actually be _good _at it, you'll just stop failing so much. But you're the only one who actually thinks I can get better at it, and maintain that standard."

"Well, you'll just get to prove them wrong, won't you."

"You really think I can?"

"Absolutely."

"Thank you." She quickly kissed his cheek. "I'm working with Bernadette Rostenkowski on the Biology project, by the way, and we're going halves on it."

"Ooh, that sounds good. I'm impressed."

"Uh-huh. Anyway, you remember how you asked me if I could find someone to set your friend Howard up with?"

"Yeah. Again, really, you don't have to. I just thought I'd do my duty as his friend to ask."

"No, sweetie, it's fine - how about Bernadette?"

"Bernadette?" Leonard raised a brow. "She actually agreed to go on a date with _Howard_? I know she's not a cheerleader, and she doesn't hang out with... us nerds, really, but... I didn't think she'd agree to going on a date with Howard, since she actually knows about him."

"Yes, well, I think she's learned not to judge other people too quickly or make assumptions about relationships." Penny said quickly, her tone slightly sharp. "Sorry. But, yeah, what do you think?"

Leonard chose not to question her tone, since she didn't seem to want to linger on why that statement made her so annoyed. "Umm, alright. Howard will be delighted... I'll have to remind him _not _to use the phrases he usually uses about her to her face."

"What kinda stuff does he say?" Penny pulled a face.

"You _really _don't wanna know." Leonard shook his head.

"Oh come on, I've heard some of the stuff he's said about me and my friends! It can't be any worse than that, surely?"

"Umm..." Leonard hesitated for a moment. "Sadly, yes."

Squinting at him, Penny frowned, before sighing and relaxing. "Alright, I probably don't wanna know, then."

"Yeah." Leonard nodded, relieved that he wouldn't have to repeat Howard's words to her. They were bad enough to hear in the first place.

"I'll text you Bernadette's number later so you can forward it to Howard. No way am I giving it to him myself."

"Good idea."

"I'm seeing her on Sunday to work on the project, so I'll see what she says then." After a moment, Penny pouted as a thought came through her mind. "Leonard?"

"Yeah?"

"You know this party that I'm going to on Friday?"

"Uh-huh."

"If you're picking up your sister on Saturday, does that mean I won't get to see you on the weekend?"

"Oh... I guess it does."

There was silence for a few seconds before Penny spoke again. "I could always not go to the party."

"What? No, you should go, it's your friends birthday. Just... whatever it is that made you upset and want to leave last time... let me know you're okay so I don't worry?"

Penny smiled at him, grateful that he wasn't asking her about what had happened, and touched that he cared so much. "Of course."

A part of her was filled with guilt. She knew that she wasn't _supposed _to go to parties, and get drunk. She didn't want Leonard to be worried about her, and she didn't want to spend the whole weekend without him. But... like he said, it was her friends birthday. And Hannah was a good friend. And going to parties was just one of those things she did. It was odd, how her mother telling her off and warning her about going to these parties had never bothered her, but Leonard made her question all of this without even meaning to.

"I'll probably go over to Sheldon's, since I won't see them over the weekend."

Well, that made things _slightly _easier. "Okay, that sounds nice."

Stopping at the parting, she turned into him. Leonard took her other hand, leaning down a little to plant a gentle kiss on her lips. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Uh-huh." Penny smiled, biting her lip.

For a minute, both of them simply stood there, looking into each others eyes, wanting nothing more than to continue that kiss; deepen it, make it go further. Only they were both incredibly aware that this was a fairly populated road, not her empty back yard. This was a public space, definitely not private.

"So, uh," Leonard chuckled nervously, "umm, make sure you show your parents your paper. They'll be proud."

"What?" Penny blinked, before coming back to her senses. "Oh! Yeah, yes, of course, yeah."

"Okay, good."

Still slightly flustered, they leaned in for a tight hug, braving another quick kiss before they pulled back again.

"See you tomorrow, Penny."

"Goodbye, Leonard. See you tomorrow."

* * *

"What is up with you?" Meryl raised a brow, as Penny practically danced into the kitchen, beaming, cheeks red.

"Nothing." Penny shrugged, grabbing a clean glass and filling it with water.

"So what's all the dancing about?"

Gulping the water down, Penny grinned and pulled her paper out of her bag. "I got my math test back - guess who got a C+?"

Pulling the paper towards her, Meryl gasped, and then grinned up at her daughter, pulling her in for a hug. "Oh, congratulations, sweetheart!"

"Thank you," Penny grinned, squeezing her mother tightly, before pulling back.

"Guess Leonard did a really great job, huh?" Meryl patted the paper.

_Leonard_. Penny's cheeks flushed again. "Oh, yeah. He did, he really did. He was really proud of me when I showed him." Penny nodded, picking up her bag again. "I'm gonna go take a shower... I had gym class today."

* * *

"So-o," Leonard's sister, Kate, grinned as they drove off from the service station they had stopped at for coffee, and to refill the gas tank. "You gonna tell me about this mysterious _Penny_?"

"What?" Leonard's head jerked around to look at her.

"Eyes on the road!" Kate exclaimed, giggling when his focus returned to the road, his expression still confused. "I called Michael to say I was coming home for a few days and see if he might come home too, and he told me you went on a date with a _cheerleader_. And it's been going well, apparently. Why didn't you tell me about this!"

"Because you always make a huge deal!" Leonard whined at his sister.

"Yeah, well, it _is _a huge deal when my baby brother doesn't tell me he's seeing this pretty girl! So, what, is she like, your girlfriend, or...?"

"Umm," he furrowed his brow, "I guess so. I mean, Howard said that Bernadette said, that _Penny _said I was her boyfriend. And she introduced me to her mom as her boyfriend, so I guess-"

"You've met her _mom_?"

"And her dad."

"What? Already? Wow, impressive." Kate nodded approvingly. "I didn't meet Henry's parents till like... two months after we started going out."

"Well, her dad wanted to meet me, she said. And I only met her mom because I took her home from a party, and her friend had called her mom to say she was coming home, so she came down to the kitchen."

"Ah, I see. So you weren't at this party?"

"Please, as if I get invited to those kind of parties." Leonard rolled his eyes.

"Maybe you will now that you're going out with Penny. But anyway, moving on. Has she met dad yet? Ooh, or mom?"

Leonard let out a laugh. "Yeah, right! Because I'm _really _rushing for that to happen."

"I seriously don't blame you, at all. So since mom and dad are away until Thursday, you gonna invite her round? Huh? Huh?" Kate nudged Leonard playfully, fighting back a grin.

"Can we not talk about that? I already get enough of that from Michael, I don't need it from _you _as well. Besides, she's with her friends today - hungover, apparently - and tomorrow she's working on her Biology project."

"_Yes _that means there's still a chance I'll get to meet her during the week. Oh my _God _we should do a double date! That would be so cute, me and Henry, you and Penny-"

"Do you _want _me to just become a puddle of nerves?"

"Alright, too soon, I'm sorry. But I still want to meet her. I have Big Sister duties to fulfill."

Leonard sighed. "Remind me why Henry couldn't pick you up, and why I didn't just leave you at the airport? And _why _couldn't you just stay at college to write this paper of yours?"

"He's working, and because you're too nice a brother to do that to me. And because mom and dad aren't home so it's a good time to go home while I can."


End file.
